Mets' World Series hire with ties to Braves' Brian Snitker signals trouble for Atlanta pitching

Hunter Cookston

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Mets' World Series hire with ties to Braves' Brian Snitker signals trouble for Atlanta pitching image

The Atlanta Braves are entering the offseason without a manager in place for the first time in a long while. However, they’re taking their time to ensure the right hire is made. Former manager Brian Snitker announced that he was stepping down just a few days after the season ended.

“Brian Snitker will not return as manager of the Atlanta Braves, sources tell ESPN. He informed the team of his decision yesterday. But he will remain with the organization in a senior advisory capacity,” ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported.

Even though Braves fans won’t be seeing Brian Snitker in the dugout anymore, there’s another Snitker they might be seeing more often.

“It isn't a guarantee, but the Mets hiring Snitker would very likely make their offense better. For Braves fans, this is obviously not ideal. One should not underestimate the Mets’ ability to screw things up, and they could easily end up hiring strictly worse coaches than the younger Snitker. However, if they stumble into the right choice here, it could make the NL East an even bigger uphill climb for the Braves in 2026 and beyond,” HTHB’s Eric Cole wrote.

On Monday morning, the Mets made it official, hiring Troy Snitker as their hitting coach — marking a nightmarish scenario for the Braves.

“For a World Series-starved team like the New York Mets looking for a hitting coach to put their team over the top, it only made sense that they'd turn to a young hitting coach who already has a championship under his belt in his young coaching career. If his new team can have the same prolonged success his former club had during his first six seasons as a coach, it could bode very poorly for Braves fans,” HTHB’s Mitchell Barbee wrote.

There’s no doubt the Mets just got better, especially with the power bats already in their lineup. Snitker is one of the best hitting coaches in MLB right now, so the Mets should be able to tear up pitching by the time the season rolls around.

It feels like a bit of a betrayal in some ways, but at the end of the day, baseball is a business. Still — who would’ve ever thought we’d see a Snitker in a Mets uniform?

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