Braves Promote Brian Snitker To Manager

The Braves, in the midst of a rebuilding plan that has them focused on 2017 and the opening of SunTrust Park, have fired manager Fredi Gonzalez after the team’s 9-28 start, the worst record in the majors. Gonzalez is the first manager the Braves have fired since general manager Bobby Cox fired Russ Nixon in 1990 and appointed himself manager.

Brian Snitker, who had been the Braves’ Triple-A Gwinnett manager since 2014 and a member of the Braves organization for 40 years, was named the interim manager.

Gonzalez, 52, succeeded the retiring Cox as manager in 2011 and led the team to a wild-card appearance in 2012 and the NL East title in 2013. He ends his tenure with a 434-413 record despite the past three losing seasons. He was also 276-279 in three seasons managing the Marlins before being fired in June 2010 despite two winning seasons.

The Braves also fired bench coach Carlos Tosca.

This will be the first big league managerial opportunity for Snitker, 60, after a lifetime in the game. His pro playing career began in the Braves’ organization in 1977 as a catcher. He retired after the 1980 season and became a 25-year-old roving instructor for the Braves in 1981. He became a manager in 1982 and has served as a minor league manager, coach or major league coach ever since.

There are a lot of managers, coaches and instructors around baseball who have modeled themselves after Snitker. Snitker’s players over the years are vociferous in their respect and admiration for him. Righthander Byron Embry played for Snitker at the start of a nearly decade in pro ball that included time in Triple-A. He now works with high school players in Colorado.

“Because of his personality, everyone who played for him has a little Brian Snitker in him,” Embry said. “We went through a phase where we lost eight straight. We won one and then lost another nine. Snitker said nothing. How come he didn’t flip out? We then went on a 12-game winning streak. He never changed.

“I was getting turned around on my fastball and walking people. He called me in and told me ‘We brought you in here to rear back and throw it.’ It changed my life. That motto has been my M.O. ever since. Do everything full speed because you have a gift for it. Having him tell me that–it was simple. It was matter of fact, but I take it as life principle.”

Troy Cameron is another example. Cameron was a 1997 first-round pick of the Braves who played for Snitker in three different seasons-(1998 in Macon, 2000 and 2001 in Myrtle Beach). He’s now the head high school baseball coach at Fort Lauderdale’s St. Thomas Aquinas High, one of the better baseball programs in the state of Florida. And as Cameron explains it, he’s a coach because of Brian Snitker.

“I model myself after him,” Cameron said.

Cameron spent eight seasons in the minors. He reached Triple-A. But it’s his interactions with Snitker that remain among his best baseball memories, including one unexpected night in 2001.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Cameron said. “We had just got done playing in the Carolina-California League All-Star Game. So we all had to fly to California and back. Me, Snit, (Ryan) Langerhans and (Wilson) Betemit. It was our first game back. Snit gave us three the day off.

“After the game SportsCenter was on in the clubhouse in Wilmington. And they said, ‘There’s been a big trade between the Indians and Braves.’ Someone turns to me and says, ‘You just got traded.’

“Snit calls me in and tells me, ‘Go back to your hotel room and wait for a phone call. I can’t tell you. But when you get done, you need to come to my room.’”

Cameron was part of a four-player deal that sent John Rocker and Cameron to Cleveland for relievers Steve Karsay and Steve Reed. After struggling to hit in his first three seasons in Class A, Cameron was in the midst of the best season his career.

“I get back to the hotel and I get a phone call from Neal Huntington welcoming me to the Indians,” Cameron said. “So when I get off the phone, I go knock on Snit’s door. The room is pitch black. There’s a bottle of vodka. He tells me to sit down and he makes me a drink. He tears up and is crying. He said, ‘I’ve been turning in such good reports on you. You’ve turned it around. I want to see you in the big leagues. If I had known you would get traded, maybe I should have handed in crappy reports.’

“I stayed in there about an hour. That hour I spent with him then summed up the three years I’ve played for him. That hour I spent with him gave validation to everything I was thinking and hoping.”

“That’s why I coach. I want to be Brian Snitker to someone.”