Grant Holmes struck out 7 and allowed 1 run in 5 2/3 innings, and Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin, and Marcell Ozuna all homered to power the Braves to complete the sweep of the 3-game series. Five runs in the first 3 innings were all that Holmes needed to notch his 2nd consecutive win. Four walks contributed to Grant’s 105 pitch count, and probably all that kept him from recording his 2nd consecutive quality start. Byron Buxton concluded the Minnesota scoring with a homer off Enyel De Los Santos, but Pierce Johnson pitched 2 perfect innings to close it out.
If you look closely, you can start to see a solid 4 man rotation coming together, a catching tandem to rival Murphy/d’Arnaud, and an outfield somewhere in between what we had with Jurickson Profar and what we had after Jurickson Profar.
The Braves improve to 6 and 2 at home and will send Spencer Schwellenbach to the mound Monday at 7:15 Eastern to kick off the last 3 games of the homestand against the Cardinals and Erick Fedde. Then we will see if any of this carries over to the road.
If this is a functional organization, AA would call Snitker into his office tonight or tomorrow for a chat that goes something like this:
“Snit, we need to talk.
“Our manager needs to be on-point, focused and aware of what’s going on with his team. By your own admission, you were unaware of something significant during Saturday’s game, which confirms observations over the course of the season to date. Not knowing that Kelenic pimped out of the box when it happened is unacceptable. Not even knowing the following morning is embarrassing for the organization — but also makes me concerned for you.
“Thus, I’m giving you three options. I’ll be up front with you: None of them involve being in the dugout Monday night.
“Option 1: Take a temporary, indefinite leave of absence. We’ll spin the statements to the least detriment of all parties. During that time, we want you to relax. But we also want you to get checked out. Don’t worry; it’ll be on our dime. Just some physical and mental-fitness stuff to make sure you’re OK, and that you’re still up for the task.
“Option 2: You move into a special advisor’s position immediately. You’ll remain under your current contract terms and at contract’s expiration, we’ll negotiate a deal to ensure you can remain as a special advisor and stay with the club for as long as you would like. As a long-time and loyal contributor to the Braves, you have earned this.
“Option 3: You will be forced to resign today.”
I think this entire episode is blown wildly out of proportion.
I agree with Rusty. Like many social media controversies, it seems worse in the moment.
As an organization, do you want to let one tweet by a player end the 49-year career of your World Series winning manager? Step back and take a deep breath.That is going to have some unfortunate knock-on effects.
Last season, Jeffy was retailing a funny story about the team noticing that Bobby Cox had nodded off, and goading him into running onto the field to yell at the ump. My non-inside knowledge guess is that this kind of thing happens, everybody knows it happens, and it’s not a four-alarm tear-your-hair out fire.
It is blown out of proportion. Everyone will have forgotten in a few days. Hope nobody does anything rash.
So far, moving on from Morton is looking like the right move.
He’s 0-5, a 10.89 ERA in 20 2/3 innings, 15 BB, 21 K, 2.32 WHIP.
Yeah, Charlie’s cooked. That’s one non-move by AA that I can’t criticize.
I won’t be shocked if Morton is given his unconditional release and he eventually winds up back up in Atlanta before the year is over. Not sure if he will make it beyond 2 or 3 starts though. He does look to be cooked
I think some public controversy is good for this team in the long run. Snitker and AA both need to be accountable to fans. I hope this gets blown massively out of proportion for a few days, and leads to some introspection behind closed doors. Our entire coaching staff needs to be on notice. All we needed was one of our twenty coaches to visibly dress down Kelenic after he got back to the dugout. The fact that this didn’t happen means they shouldn’t be working here. It’s really that simple
It could mean that, or it could mean that twenty coaches saw a guy who screwed up, who knew he screwed up, and who didn’t have to be told not to do it again. The only thing that concerns me is if there was different treatment for Ronald.
Does anyone remember when Acuna was pulled, if that was the first time Ronald had any hustle issues? I will say that Ronald has beaten out more infield hits and stretched more singles into doubles than anyone in my memory.
To answer Rusty’s question, I THINK I remember people complaining in the comments here about RAJ not hustling at times, but I don’t know how you’d search for it. I am not accusing him of that and wouldn’t want to without solid evidence.
I’m not sure of the most detailed & intensive managers in baseball history…but I’m not fooling myself to think that Snit catches everything “in-game”. And that’s okay.
However, I don’t understand how Snit could’ve missed Kelenic not hustling out of the box. It should have been an easy double, especially with Kelenic’s speed. And it is further complicated with the track record of rightful punishment that Snit has doled out in a similar situation with Acuna. Maybe Freddie or another clubhouse leader pointed it out to Snit at that time and insisted he take action. I don’t know.
For what it’s worth, I think a bigger travesty and controversy should be whomever is deciding to continue to give Bryce Elder starts. BUT, this deal with Snit/Kelenic/Acuna is NOT nothing, imo.
At least we get controversy with a big ol’ slice of home sweep on the side.
An overlooked aspect of Snitker’s failure to punish Kelenic: Nick Markakis and Freddie Freeman ain’t breathing down his neck.
Did he punish them? Yes, it went over my head
I think sdp is just referencing that Markakis and Freeman were pretty strong clubhouse presences that were major pressures toward traditional kinds of attitudes toward hustle, etc.
It’s really no longer about Acuña’s tweet anymore. Like Communism in “Clue,” it’s a red herring.
This is all about a manager who admitted he didn’t know what was going on at a key moment — and then didn’t know about it until THE FOLLOWING MORNING. That’s where it reaches rank absurdity. Some things will get missed in the hubbub of the moment — although I would argue this shouldn’t have been missed, given that it went to instant replay, and one could have easily seen the lollygagging on review.
To be clueless about this in the postgame press conference Saturday was mind-blowing. To arrive at Truist Park on Sunday still unaware is incomprehensible. You are the manager; knowing what is going on is your job.
The impact of a manager on the team when it comes to tactics is certainly debatable. But it is fair to expect a manager to know what’s happening with their club. This is an incredibly low bar to clear.
That postgame press conference was a tire fire and he kept pouring kerosene on himself with his answers.
This is a huge deal. And Acuña no longer has any relevance in the reason why.
Agreed. I find Snit’s apparent lack of awareness the most troubling. Seriously, how could you be so unaware or why would you act so unaware? Acting unaware just makes it worse somehow.
I agree with everything you’ve said here, insect overlords. incomprehensible. You don’t have to track every play of every game, but you do have to track every important thing with the team’s mood, and this was important. That no coach brought it up, that he didn’t see the significance of the replay and of Kelenic getting thrown out, demonstrates a disconnection that is a problem.
Braves trade for Scott Blewett, a 29-year old reliever with a 1.93 ERA in 37 career innings across 3 teams. I assume while his ERA is low, he has pitched only in low leverage and has been the victim of roster crunches. Good thing we’re desperate.
Jose Suarez sentenced to death.
Scott Blewett has to have one of the best or worst (depending on your perspective) names for a reliever in baseball history.
I await “Blewett? Bummer.”
There’s gotta be a way to work relievers “Blewett” and “Johnson” into a joke.
Bullpen ordering is always a problem. If you go with Blewitt-Johnson you might not have the staying power for Bummer. Once Johnson enters after Bummer, it’s probably too late for Blewett, especially if he needs three batters.
[To be worked on. I hate you, Rob.]
And where is Pete LaCock when you need him?
I’m sure Brandon is working on it.
It’s now a Rosenthal column.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6295455/2025/04/21/brian-snitker-ronald-acuna-atlanta-braves/
In the clubhouse, the buck stops with the manager. I don’t like how thin-skinned Snitker has been in this whole story. He needs to take responsibility for his role here – as the field manager, when something happens on the field, he needs to know about it and address it.
I won’t go quite as far as our insect overlords above, but I’m not that far behind him. The main reason this story blew up is Snitker’s reaction, or lack thereof. He’s got to take some responsibility, publicly or privately. If he just takes responsibility in the clubhouse, and doesn’t address the matter publicly at all, I’m okay with that, and I accept that we can’t fully know what happens at the end of this story. But if he can’t take some responsibility for this, my faith in him will be shaken.
Well put. It’s too late for Snitker to fully recover reputation at this point, which is part of Insect Overlord’s point, but on the other hand, you can sustain some blows to your reputation without deserving to lose your job. One of the big problems here is that if Snitker has been telling the truth at every juncture, then (a) he hasn’t told Acuña what is expected of him; (b) he is not kept informed about what’s going on on the field; and (c) he thinks that a guy who seems to work hard doesn’t need to be chastised when he makes a mistake that comes from (temporarily) not working hard. And if he hasn’t been telling the truth, then he’s a poor liar. Good liars have stories that get them out of trouble, not deeper in it.
If people in the clubhouse are pissed we will know about it, if they team isn’t pissed, then none of us should be either, Acuna is not with the team so he has no idea what happened behind closed doors.
Don’t expect Blewett to hang around very long as Kimbrel has already had 2 good rehab appearances.
Bummer has options, no?
Don’t think so. I think Lee and Daysbel are the only ones with options.
RAJ is way too much drama, Snitker issue or not. Also, Morton doesn’t pitch for the Braves thank God. But Sale isnt looking to good right now either
I’ll admit, when I originally read RAJ’s tweet, I thought it was a fake account because I would hope he wouldn’t do that publicly. And he sure did.
Strider to the IL with a hammy…sigh.
More Bryce for us!!!! So excited!!!
Not only more Elder, but someone worse than Elder will have to fill that spot. And AJSS can’t be called back up yet.
At least we saved that money that could’ve gone to Jack Flaherty. Can’t wait to get my cut
I would say we could go with an opener but Elder already should be one of those.
They might have to go with a bullpen game because I don’t know who is available. Waldrep pitched 2 days ago, Davis Daniel and Dylan Dodd (who looks like he moved to the bullpen) pitched yesterday, AJSS is also on short rest (and can’t be called up without putting someone else on the IL anyway.)
Nathan Wiles would be on normal rest but isn’t on the 40 man I don’t think.
Chasen Shreve is starting now and would be on 5 days rest. Also not on the 40 man.
At Double A, Lucas Braun would be on 4 days rest and Drue Hackenberg would be on 5 days rest.
Strider might consider swapping the quinoa for a ribeye.
I never understood why we didn’t get rotation help in the off-season… Lopez has been an injury risk, and Elder has not been effective the last couple years. It just seems like we could have used literally anybody to bolster the rotation in the fourth or fifth spot.
I don’t hate the idea of Hackenberg
Braun is more polished and is off to a really good start at Columbus. Wouldn’t surprise me to see him get the call.
I bet the answer is none of the above and they just do a bullpen game.
Pulled a hamstring playing catch? They must be tuned like violin strings.
This is a less than ideal start tonight. I cannot stand the Cardinals.
Verdugo making a big difference. I did not see this coming.
That stupid, dumb, slacker-hack Anthopoulos. He must be held accountable!!!
Nice job Ozzie. Come on….
Schwellenbach gets some national attention and immediately becomes average…
I’m really not sure why Schwellenbach gets so much national attention. He’s had a really nice to start to his career. But good gosh, let a guy pitch at least one, if not multiple, full seasons before a guy gets hyped up. How many “Lucy with the football” situations do baseball fans get with hyping pitchers when it’s such a huge likelihood they lose effectiveness or can’t stay healthy? People were doing the same with Sale and Lopez. Why did anyone think they also were going to match their 2024’s? Pitchers just don’t do this.
Erik Fedde has more walks than strikeouts but we can only score 2 off him in 6 innings.
Kelenic sucks.
Hanging breaking ball to Nick Allen and all he can do is hit a foul pop up.
Let’s go Mikey!!
Way to go Murph!!
I’m starting to enjoy this team
Sean!!!!!!!
I was just about to say that was one of the rare occasions where a set of circumstances took place in which a pinch runner scored where the original runner would not have. Then Murphy ruined it.
Romero makes Elder look like Randy Johnson.
It’s Night of the Bullpen Dead for St. Louis
Had it all the way….
Turns out that Murphy insurance blast was needed.
Iggy is out of gas today.
Had ’em all the way!
lol maybe we have the devil magic now after that ending lol
Never in doubt!
Win, win, win.
I didn’t read any baseball news for about a week, and now I am glad. Hopefully the team winning some games puts this Kelenic – Acuna story to bed where it belongs.
Braves can’t catch a break on their starting pitching, though like everyone has said, this is on AA not signing any depth pieces. I’d love to hear the real reason (payroll constraints? being priced out of free agents?). I feel certain we’ll have to trade for a starter in July.
Hopefully he isn’t quite as profane, but the leadership Verdugo brings reminds me of Joc Pederson. So far the Alex Verdugo era is going pretty well.
What, you don’t like someone blaring “we are those MFers” over a loud speaker in a stadium full of families?
Riley is looking really good out there now. What a difference a week makes.
And Strider is in line to be back for the Dodgers series.
Small sample, but the Braves are 6th in hitting fWAR in the last 10 days. 12th in runs scored. So they’re not completely lost at this point. Obviously getting out of the West coast against the best teams in baseball helps that.
Another thing too: of the current lineup, 6 guys now have OPS+ above 100. If you could find a way to get Baldwin into the lineup, you’d have 7. Obviously Harris and Kelenic are dragging down the lineup. Allen is obviously not a good hitter, but he now has 4 SBs with no CS, he’s playing great defense, so he’s now worth 0.4 bWAR and 0.3 fWAR. As long as his offense doesn’t fall off a cliff, he’s simply more valuable and helpful than Arcia.
Who starts tonight? Uncle Jesse? Waldrep and AJSS aren’t fully rested.
recapped.