Brian Snitker retiring as Braves manager, will remain with organization as adviser

ATLANTA — Brian Snitker’s storied Braves coaching career has concluded.

The 2021 World Series winner, who’s spent 49 seasons with the organization, is retiring, the team announced Wednesday morning. Snitker, 69, has overseen the team’s managerial duties since taking over as the interim manager in May 2016.

He’s remaining with the organization in an advisory role. Snitker also will be inducted in the Braves Hall of Fame next year.

“I never thought I’d hoist a trophy or be around a group of guys that make this so special,” Snitker said, fighting off tears, in his opening statement during Wednesday’s press conference.

Snitker assembled a managerial tenure that made his friend and mentor, Braves legend Bobby Cox, proud. He went 811-668 (.548) as a big-league manager, a position he once doubted he would ever experience after decades as a minor-league coach and position coach.

Snitker oversaw seven consecutive postseason appearances from 2018-24, including six consecutive division titles. He and Cox are the only Atlanta-era Braves managers to win a World Series. Snitker was National League Manager of the Year in 2018. He managed the NL All-Star team in 2022 and served on the All-Star staff multiple times, including in 2025 when Atlanta hosted the event.

The 2021 title was one of the unlikeliest in history, a testament to Snitker’s leadership as he guided the team through myriad injuries and underperformance — ultimately resulting in an 88-win club reaching immortality.

The Braves will be hiring only their fourth manager since Cox resumed the post in 1990. He managed the team until 2010 before Fredi Gonzalez held the position until his midseason dismissal, which led to Snitker’s first opportunity as a major-league manager.

The 2025 season long was assumed to be Snitker’s last. He had indicated in recent weeks he could be interested in returning for a 50th season, one he hoped would yield better health luck for the roster than what occurred over the past two campaigns, but that ultimately won’t be the case.

While Snitker said this was his decision, his contract was expiring and the Braves didn’t indicate whether they offered him the opportunity to continue managing. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said publicly a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to respect Snitker’s process and that he always would be part of the franchise.

Snitker said ultimately he wasn’t sure he wanted to go through the grind of another lengthy MLB season.

“I needed time after that last out (Sunday) to decide what I want to do,” Snitker said. “After I got home and decompressed a little bit, I did decide that this is the right move. If you wait to retire until you’re ready to retire, you never will. I figured that out.

“I hated that I lost my biggest supporter, my go-to guy (Cox). But I could still go sit with him and talk to him. But I couldn’t — I needed that probably more this last month than I ever have in all the years I’ve been managing. In my mind, I’m ready for this next step. It’s one of those things if you wait to do it until you’re ready, you never will. I’m ready for this next step and I’m grateful.”

Snitker noted, too, that his grandsons were ecstatic that he’d now be around for their games in the spring and summer. “I missed everything my kids did,” Snitker said. “And I didn’t want to miss everything they did.”

The organization honored Snitker during the 40-minute presser, presenting him with a new Ford truck and an expenses-paid trip to Hawaii for him and his wife, Ronnie.

Numerous Braves players were in attendance at the press conference: third baseman Austin Riley, second baseman Ozzie Albies (and his wife Andreia), right-handed pitcher Spencer Strider, outfielder Michael Harris II, catcher Drake Baldwin, reliever Joe Jimenez and righty Reynaldo Lopez.

“Hopefully I’m leaving this better than when I got it,” Snitker said. “Culture comes from the players. You have good, high-quality players, you’re going to have good culture. That’s where we’ve taken this thing. I feel like when I first got it, there were a lot of square pegs in round holes. We worked our butts off to try and rectify that and we did. By getting a young Ozzie Albies and guys like that up here, we created a culture.

“I’ve said this for years, Braves Country is real. I had no idea the responsibility of this chair when I got here and what you’re responsible for. For a fan base, to an organization, it’s a huge undertaking that I had no idea — I had to learn on the job, too. ... It’s in really good hands. It’s in a good place. And because of (our current players), it’s going to continue to roll and be a special place to be.”

The uncertainty around Snitker’s future didn’t allow the Truist Park crowd to applaud Snitker, but he said he looks forward to his team Hall of Fame induction night for such a celebration.

A beloved players’ manager, Snitker’s Braves teams were known for their resiliency and fight. The injury-riddled 2024 team still qualified for the postseason. This year’s ailments proved too much to overcome, but Snitker’s players continued treating the season as if it involved a pennant race. The Braves won 10 consecutive games in the closing two weeks.

“The partnership, the friendship, the success we’ve had together has been one of the great joys and honors of my career,” president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said.

This is an all-time baseball story, one that defines perseverance and dedication to one sport and one organization.

Snitker joined the Braves in 1977 as a minor-league catcher. He played for four seasons, showing he likely wasn’t going to progress. But Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, then a Braves executive, saw Snitker as a potential coach. “He just released me and offered me a coaching job,” Snitker said in reflection a few years ago.

He managed a conglomerate of minor-league affiliations over the years, including Richmond, Mississippi, Durham and Macon. He was the Braves’ third base coach from 2007-13 under Cox and Gonzalez. He started managing Triple-A Gwinnett in 2013 before he was chosen as Gonzalez’s replacement.

Ronnie has been an integral support system for Snitker throughout the years. They have two children, Erin and Troy. Troy has been a hitting coach with the Astros since 2019, losing to his father’s Braves in the 2021 World Series but winning the championship a year later.

“It’s something we all dream about; very few of us in the game get to experience that last out of the World Series,” Snitker said. “I can still remember it like it was yesterday, looking across the diamond to see what Troy was doing, and he was looking to see what I was doing.”

Now, Snitker said he’s enthusiastic about his advisory role — the same post Cox had upon retirement. He’ll be at spring training in February. He said there’s a lot of freedom in the role, and it’s his “to define.”

“Once a Brave, always a Brave; and that’s true,” Snitker said. “There’s nothing like it. So I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had here. I’m blessed to have been with some of the greatest guys in the world for 10 years.

“I’m excited for this new chapter of my life because I think at some point in time, everybody has to have that. I’m blessed that I can do it here in a place I was born and raised with this organization. And to continue to help in any way I can.”

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