Snitker's journey from Minors to WS champ

ATLANTA -- Upon clutching the last out of the World Series, Freddie Freeman placed the baseball in his back pocket and looked forward to giving it to Braves manager Brian Snitker.

“He means so much to this organization,” Freeman said. “He’s put on every hat in this organization. He was given the job in 2016. We’ve since delivered four division titles, a world championship and a Manager of the Year Award. That’s a pretty good stint as the Atlanta Braves' manager for him.”

When the Braves defeated the Astros on Tuesday night, Snitker experienced the thrill of joining his mentor Bobby Cox as the only two men to manage an Atlanta Braves team to a World Series title. You can say he has exceeded the expectations that existed in 2016, when he was supposed to be in this role for just a few months, or at the end of '17, when the previous front-office regime was ready to get rid of him.

“In my wildest dreams, I never knew I’d be sitting up here talking to you,” Snitker said.

Snitker’s story is one of perseverance, loyalty, determination and triumph. Somewhere within those 40-plus years he spent filling a variety of roles at both the Major League and Minor League levels within the Braves organization, Snitker became a beloved leader who has now earned great respect throughout the game.

Did the relatively mellow Snitker change along the way? Well John Smoltz has described Snitker as the most intimidating Minor League coach he ever had. And they only crossed paths during the instructional league season.

“I could see that,” Snitker said. “I talk to a lot of guys who say, 'I was kind of scared of you.'”

When Hank Aaron was serving as the Braves’ farm director in 1980, he ended Snitker’s days as a backup Minor League catcher and immediately gave him a job as a roving Minor League instructor. Two years later, the young coach became the manager of a Class A Anderson club.

The stint with Anderson would be the first of 20 seasons as a Minor League manager. Snitker filled other roles in between, including serving as Atlanta’s third-base coach from 2007-13. He was devastated at the end of the 2013 season when former general manager Frank Wren demoted him to serve as Triple-A Gwinnett’s manager.

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Snitker thought about moving on from the only organization he had known since signing as a non-drafted free agent in 1977. His mother being located in an assisted living facility near Gwinnett’s Coolray Field helped him get through the two-plus seasons he spent back in the Minors.

"I didn't want to leave," Snitker said before the Braves began the 2018 National League Division Series against the Dodgers. "I thought for a while, 'Well, I might have to,' but I didn't want to. There are some times with your personal beliefs and who you are that you've got to stick up for yourself, too. I don't know if I've done that enough for me. But I knew it was about me and my family."

Fortunately, Snitker stayed and took advantage of the opportunity that arose when he was named Atlanta’s interim manager during the 2016 season after Fredi Gonzalez was let go. Snitker guided the team through a massive rebuild and became beloved by veterans like Freeman and Nick Markakis. But he had no desire to work for former general manager John Coppolella, and would have likely been let go had an MLB probe not led to Coppolella being placed on the permanently banned list after the '17 season.

Four seasons later, Snitker has guided the Braves to four straight NL East titles and their first World Series title since 1995.

“Guys in baseball, that’s what we do,” Snitker said. “We fight through adversities and grind. It’s not who you are. It’s what you do. You probably can’t visualize doing anything else. So you just keep fighting the fight and grind through it, because you never know. It happened to me. I was blessed enough to get an opportunity.”