Brian Snitker knew the Braves’ path to a sixth postseason would be difficult, but he could not have predicted a season like 2024. Despite a team depleted of players due to injury, including the 2023 NL MVP and last year’s sole 20-game winner and Cy Young favorite, Brian Snitker has the Atlanta Braves on the verge of their seventh consecutive playoff appearance and should be named NL Manager of the Year. Of course, the most vocal Twitter critics disagree. That judgment misses so much it’s tough to discuss, but there’s no doubt that Snitker maintained a squad that could easily have been a.500 club within striking distance of the playoffs. Slump and injuries produced roster instability, but the Braves are pounding on the door again nevertheless.
It wasn’t long before things started to go wrong. Sean Murphy exited the first game after seven innings and did not return for two months. A week later, Spencer Strider’s UCL failed, and a battery that the team had expected to rely on was gone; then things got worse. By the middle of May, Snitker might have made his first stop every morning to the trainer’s office for a damage report. Ozzie Albies was placed on the injured list on April 16 due to a broken toe, missing ten days.
Austin Riley was placed on the injured list on May 13 due to a strained oblique, missing 14 days. Zack Short and Luke Williams took over at third.
On May 25, Ronald Acuña Jr. sustained a torn ACL in his left knee, which ended his season.
Michael Harris II hurt his left hamstring on June 6, and did not return until August 14.
Max Fried was placed on the 15-day injured list on July 21 due to a left forearm strain.
On July 22, a fastball struck Albies and fractured his left wrist, pushing him to the IL for 58 days.
On August 5, Reynaldo Lopez went on the 15-day IL with a right forearm.
strain.
On August 20, a fastball struck Riley’s wrist, breaking it and ending his season.
Lopez was placed on the injured list on September 11 due to a right shoulder issue. If everything goes well, he will return on September 29. Even the strongest farm system in the league cannot fully match that kind of quality. To make matters worse, the rest of the team was experiencing a slump. Without Marcell Ozuna’s heroics, the Braves would be competing with the Nationals for third place, or worse.
Offense, what offense?
After possessing the NL’s third-ranked offense in April, the team’s.772 OPS fell 100 points in May, dropping to 14th, and remaining 30 points below the league until August.
Jarred Kelenic’s bat has evaporated; he is now a glove-first fourth outfielder, just as he was in Seattle. Adam Duvall proved once again that he had passed his peak two years ago. Sean Murphy has not hit at all, and Orlando Arcia, like Kelenic, has always been a glove-first bench bat on a successful team.
Matt Olson struggled at first but improved after the All-Star break, but it required the inclusion of three players designated for assignment at least once this season – Ramon Laureano, Gio Urshela, and Whit Merrifield – as well as Harris’ return for the offense to become a thing again.
The offense ranks.
Eighth in the NL with 101 wRC+ – every competing team, including the Cubs, is higher – and tied for 16th in MLB, with Oakland.
With a.315 wOBA, they rank seventh in the NL (every other competing team is higher) and 12th in MLB, trailing only the Twins.
Twitter critics screamed that Brian Snitker shouldn’t have played the struggling guys, despite the fact that he had no one else to play and won more extra innings games (.706 W’/L%, 12-5) than any other NL team except the Padres.
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