ATL Thread: 6/15 @ WAS

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Just imagine if Soroka comes back well.

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And so, after his players arrived at Chase Field in Phoenix on the morning of June 1, Snitker had them assemble in the visitors clubhouse a couple of hours before their Wednesday afternoon series finale.

“Snit and I talked about it before, the day he was going to do it,” Braves bench coach Walt Weiss said. “He told me he couldn’t sleep the night before and he had some things on his mind. And I just said, ‘You know what, Snit, all of us need reminders. From time to time, we need to be reminded of what we’re supposed to be doing, or going about it the right way.’

“We all need those reminders, I don’t care who you are. And that’s all that meeting was. And ****, I don’t think we’ve lost since, have we?”

Players say then, and now, the calm demeanor of their manager was a significant factor in the team maintaining its positive vibes, even as outsiders questioned whether they had the goods to win another division title, much less march through the postseason last fall to win their first World Series title since 1995.

“Oh, man, it’s been huge,” said veteran catcher Travis d’Arnaud, whose two-out RBI double in the third inning drove in the Braves’ third run Thursday. “It’s hard to really, truly explain it in words how beneficial (Snitker’s presence) is. Especially for this sport, especially when you’re out there nearly every single day and things don’t go your way, and you have this leader who’s the same every day, regardless of it’s good or bad, I think it’s very vital.”

Understand, the June 1 meeting was far from a peel-the-paint-off-the-walls shouting session.

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Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson made his major-league debut in August 2016 and has played for only one manager — Snitker, who replaced a fired Fredi Gonzalez as interim manager in May 2016 and had the interim label removed following the season because players responded so well to his leadership and asked that he be retained.

Swanson and Snitker have developed a close relationship, as Snitker has with many players during his decades managing in the minor leagues and since getting his first major-league managerial post at age 60.

“Every team tends to take on the personality of the leader,” Swanson said. “And there’s no skirting around that your leader is always going to be the manager. So I think that his ability to just show up and be him every day kind of gives us that same permission to do the same thing. And I think the reason why it works here is because we have a group of guys that are professional. So, him allowing us to be professionals, I think gives guys confidence to be able to go do what makes them them.

“Even just little things that people don’t ever see, like the fact that we’re allowed to have optional BP (batting practice) every day. You know, it’s like, hey, if you’re tired or banged up, or got stuff going on at the house — or you know, like for me, like if (Swanson’s fiancée Mallory Pugh) is in town, like, yeah, you can show up a little later. Just as long as you’re ready to play at 7:20, that’s what matters. And I think being able to put the emphasis on the winning and what matters is what happens at 7:20 — or whatever the game time may be — is the most important part.”

The team meeting at Phoenix was well-timed and executed, Swanson and others said.

“To me the biggest thing that you take out of it is just, like, you play so much, and you do this so much, and you’re here every day, that you can kind of get stuck in a rut,” Swanson said. “And sometimes you just need a pattern interruption. You need your guy to just kind of get everyone together and say, ‘Hey, we’re playing pretty hard, but we can play better.’ You know, ‘We can do better. We can be a little more focused, we can be better.’ I hate to say it wakes everyone up, but it’s just kind of like, yeah, you’re right. I mean, nothing else needs to be said other than, we just need to play better.”

Which they have, in every facet, including reducing the fielding and base-running mistakes that sunk the Braves in several games before the meeting.

“Just discussing things, nothing big,” is how Snitker characterized the meeting as the winning streak moved into a second week. “I just thought we were kind of unfocused there for a little bit. It wasn’t that we weren’t playing hard. Just kind of lost … the train got off the tracks a little bit. I don’t think it was one area, I think it was probably our total game wasn’t what we were capable of doing.”

D’Arnaud said, “It was a reminder of who we are, and I’m pretty sure we all took it to heart because ever since then, we’ve been playing good baseball.”

“He was calm, collected, wanted to get in front of us and, like I said, (get) a little refocus,” Olson said. “Look at the big picture and see what we can do to get back on track.”

Weiss, 58, is a former Braves All-Star shortstop and was the Colorado Rockies’ manager for four seasons through 2016. Since resigning that position and joining the Braves as Snitker’s bench coach before the 2018 season, Weiss said he’s watched how Snitker handles situations so calmly and admired his patience — similar to Snitker’s mentor and Weiss’ former Braves manager, Hall of Famer Bobby Cox.

“Yeah, and I’m sure that he took that from Bobby, being around Bobby as long as he was,” Weiss said. “I took over a (Rockies) club that was coming off the worst season in franchise history. So there were tough days. But, man, I admire Snit and how, although we’ve been very successful here, we’ve had our stretches where we struggled; I mean, it’s just the nature of the game. But I’ve always admired how he handles those tough times. It’s something I’ve definitely learned from him.

“I don’t know if I’m good at it yet. I would really grind over those losses as a manager, take it home with me, where I see Snit — he can wash it off, and he clearly turns the page. When he leaves that night, you would never know if we won or lost. It’s tough to do, but I think that’s ideal for a manager. Because a manager does wear a loss tougher than anybody else.”

Told what Swanson said about a team taking on the personality of its manager, Weiss agreed.

“I noticed as a player and when I managed, that anytime something goes wrong on the field, all the eyes in the dugout look at the manager to see how he’s going to react,” Weiss said. “It’s always been that way. And Snit’s great at remaining stoic in the dugout and not being reactionary or emotional whenever something — good or bad, really — happens on the field.


“I think you’ve got to enjoy the successes, but anytime something goes wrong on the field, every guy in the dugout looks at the manager. So the fact that he’s calm and patient, I think the players feed off that.

“That patience probably was tested last year more than anything. And his resilience. And you look at our club, I mean, our club had to get through it, and I think Snit’s demeanor helped them do that.”

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