Snitker family soaks it all in
HOUSTON — No matter how this year’s World Series ends, a Snitker will get a championship ring.
This Fall Classic is a family affair with Braves manager Brian Snitker in the dugout opposite his son, Astros co-hitting coach Troy Snitker.
Close their whole lives, they’ll be rivals when the teams take the field Tuesday night for Game 1.
“Quite honestly ... he’s going to want to kick my (butt),” dad said Monday.
But on the eve of the opener, which ended too late for this edtion, the elder Snitker still found time to play the role of proud papa when talking about his son’s success.
“I kind of validated the fact that maybe I did something right, the way he turned out,” he said. “He’s a heck of a young man.”
Troy Snitker grew up in clubhouses and dugouts, following his father as he toiled as a minor league skipper for most of his childhood. Brian Snitker taught his son so much during that time, but as he watched him bounce around teams from Macon, Georgia, to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, it was not what he said, but what he did that served as the most important lesson.
“Just his work ethic,” the 32-year-old Snitker said. “I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve taken away from him, being able to watch him from a young age at the ballpark. He’s so consistent, hard working. He’s the same guy every day when you’re in the clubhouse with him.”
The 66-year-old Snitker spent 15 seasons a manager for various Braves’ farm teams before working as the big league club’s third base coach from 2007-2013. He was the manager of the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves from 2013 until becoming the big league club’s interim manager when Fredi Gonzalez was fired in May 2016.
Brian got the job full-time in 2017 and has led the Braves to the postseason the last four seasons.
Braves take Game 1: A healthy swing by Jorge Soler powered the Atlanta Braves to a smashing start in the World Series.
Making his first start since testing positive for COVID-19, Soler became the first player to begin a World Series with a home run and the Braves, despite the loss of pitcher Charlie Morton to a broken leg, hushed the Houston Astros 6-2 Tuesday night in Game 1.
Boosted by a strong bullpen effort, a two-run homer by Adam Duvall and a late sacrifice fly from Freddie Freeman, the Braves coasted in their first Series appearance since Chipper Jones and their Big Three aces ascended in 1999.
Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and the Astros mostly looked lost at the plate. This is their third World Series in five seasons — and first since their 2017 illegal sign-stealing scheme was revealed.
Before the game, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said there were plenty of sleuths monitoring the dugouts, clubhouse and stands to guard against any possible shenanigans.