Braves sign Brian Snitker to multi-year extension

The Braves have signed manager Brian Snitker to a two-year contract extension with a club option for 2021, per an announcement from the team on Monday morning:

Snitker has a 221-227 record after two-plus seasons (he took over on an interim basis 38 games into the 2016 campaign). That’s not exceptionally impressive on the surface, but when you consider that he took over in the middle of a rebuild and helped the team progress by four wins last year, then by an incredible 18 wins this year on the way to a 90-72 record and an NL East title. The Braves’ season obviously didn’t end the way they wanted, dropping their NLDS in four games to the Dodgers, but with a young core featuring Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies, Johan Camargo, and Sean Newcomb, as well as many more prospects who should make more pronounced impacts in 2019 and beyond, this Braves team seems to be well-set for the future. Though Snitker has received some criticism for his tactical decisions — as most major-league managers do at some point or another — he’s a prime candidate for the NL Manager of the Year Award after leading the Braves to such a massive improvement this year, and he’s clearly earned the right to lead them again in 2019 in beyond.

This extension continues an incredibly long run in the Braves organization for the 62-year-old Snitker, who signed as an undrafted free agent in 1977 and served as an organizational catcher for four seasons, playing through 1980 before transitioning to coaching. He served as a minor-league manager in 20 different seasons while also spending time as the bullpen coach and third base coach for the major league club, and he broke a trend of teams hiring experienced big-league managers or recent former players without coaching experience when the Braves brought him on full-time following the 2016 campaign.

The Braves also re-signed every member of the coaching staff except pitching coach Chuck Hernandez — who will not return in 2019 — to two-year extensions.