MLB WORLD SERIES: ASTROS VS BRAVES

October 26, 2021

Brian Snitker

Troy Snitker

Minute Maid Park

Atlanta Braves

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. How about Ronnie? Who's she pulling for, and what has she meant to you guys as a baseball mom and wife?

BRIAN SNITKER: Since it's his mom, I'll let him go first.

TROY SNITKER: I think she's decided she's just going to cheer the whole time no matter what happens. She'll probably cry the whole time, though.

BRIAN SNITKER: I told her this morning I don't know if you've got any left. It's been pretty emotional for all of us for the last few days. Yeah, I don't think she has to root for anybody. She's just going to root for the game.

I told her enjoy this experience. This doesn't happen all the time, obviously.

Q. Gentlemen, is there an appreciation of the moment, or are you just too worried about the results of the games to actually appreciate what you two have accomplished being here today?

TROY SNITKER: No, we definitely appreciate the moment. I think we're enjoying this as much as we can up until the first pitch. We're enjoying the time together, enjoying how cool of a moment this really is. But I think there will definitely be a point where we leave the Snitker series talk in the pregame show. Once we get going, we'll be focused on our teams and winning games.

BRIAN SNITKER: We talked about this last night at dinner, how we needed to just enjoy this. You're never guaranteed this. Who knows when you're going to get back. Enjoy it and relish in it.

Somebody asked me, well, when you look across the field, you'll see Troy. I said, I probably won't see Troy. I don't see a lot going on as far as the peripherals or whatever. I'm so focused on the game and what goes on. I'll get home after games, and Ronnie is like, "Did you see this? Did you see that?" I'm like, "No." I don't have any recollection of things.

I think it will be -- like I said, once this thing is tipped off and the first pitches are thrown, we have jobs to do. It's all about winning games. All this is great and everything, but like I say, we've got a job to do.

Q. Did you pay for dinner?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yes, I did (laughter).

Q. For each of you, what is the best baseball skill each taught the other, and what's the worst baseball habit each got the other to get rid of?

BRIAN SNITKER: I know the habit is the junk in your lip, probably. For me, I've admired Troy -- we sat on the couch a couple years ago, and I was going to interview a guy for a pitching coach job. I'd only had one interview in my 45 years in baseball myself. And he was interviewing hitting coaches for the Astros.

So I sat there and asked him, I was sitting there in the recliner, and he's there with his computer, and I was like, Troy, what do you ask guys? It blew me away the answers I got, some of the -- how prepared and into all this that he was.

And I learned then. I had a pad, and I was writing things down, and he was telling me. Because I'd never done it.

And, you know, you know what you want to say, and you talk, but just to hear him tell me that, I was kind of like, my God, that's really impressive.

TROY SNITKER: I think the biggest thing I've learned from him are skills he's taught me to be successful in this game, number one is just how to work, how to be consistent, how to be the same no matter you're winning or losing, whether guys are playing well, whether they're struggling. He's just always been so supportive of his guys and especially to me in my career. I think that's the biggest thing that he's taught me.

Q. You said you were thinking about the left-handed spot. As a left-handed pitcher, was that the decision today?

BRIAN SNITKER: Exactly. Last time we did that, we scored the most runs we'd scored in the postseason.

I get he was 4 for 5 or 4 for 4 with four RBIs hitting fifth, which is really good. Right now I plan on going back to him leading off tomorrow.

I weighed both things all night, and then just looking at how actually we could balance the lineup. Because this is the postseason. You never know what they're going to do. Guys do stuff different than they have. And I find myself doing that.

So just to try and structure the lineup for the game, for this one game. That's pretty much what it is.

Q. I know you said, I think it was from Sunday, most of the guys still walking around numb with the feeling. Yesterday you got out here and got your feet under you and everything. I know you're not huge on speeches, but what is the message to the guys in Game 1 and just as you get rolling?

BRIAN SNITKER: I don't have enough voice left to stand up in front of them and talk honestly. This is a group that I had a few meetings this year. I don't have to have a lot with these guys. They don't give me reason to. I can sense and see in how they're going about it, I don't need to tell them anything they don't already know.

Mainly most of my message to them over the course of the year is to you just got to hang in there and weather storms because, if you don't handle adversity in this game, if you do handle adversity in this game, there's always good on the back end of it when you handle it and you're accountable. These guys are more than that.

I think everybody -- I don't need to tell them where we're at. We've got these new T-shirts that have got World Series on them. I think we're reminded all the time where we are.

Q. Two-parter. Personnel, just the decision to bump Kyle up to the 26, and then also going with Max in Game 2.

BRIAN SNITKER: Max is the natural to go No. 1 in Game 2. That's who we're going. Kyle had been throwing really, really well as the Triple-A for a while now. It's not a small sample size. We go back and look, and he's really maturing as a pitcher.

The Triple-A, even at the alternate site, he's just been throwing really well, and it's just another length option for us.

Q. A couple of ballpark questions. Of course, that short portion left field, is that something your team is going to try to take advantage of? Is that something that you talk about? Also, looks like the stadium is going to be closed today. Just that crowd aspect, what does that kind of bring to this game?

BRIAN SNITKER: Everywhere we've been, when we started off the playoff run in Milwaukee, the thing was closed, and it was unbelievably loud. It's been loud at our place. We know coming here it's going to be unbelievably loud.

We played a whole series here last year in the playoffs. We were bubbled here. And I think the biggest thing is the defensive aspect of it and the bounces that this park has, some of the ricochets down the lines. Then we worked on that yesterday in our workout.

I thought we did a good job last year for the first time a lot of these guys have been here. So I think we'll be fine. I watched video, and there's some hops and things that their guys don't get right all the time. That's just part of this experience.

Q. What's it like to have Ronald Acuna here with the team? Was that a no-brainer to bring him along?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, we brought him, Mike Soroka is here with us, Stephen Vogt. We wanted everybody that had a part of this. And you're only allowed X number of guys. I'm really glad these guys can be here to experience this with their teammates. Ronald had a big hand in this until he was hurt. I want them to experience it because they are part of this club.

Q. Is there any sense of longing when you see Ronald to imagine that you guys got this far without him --

BRIAN SNITKER: It's really cool that we did, but it doesn't surprise me because these guys, like I said many times, they've never been one to sit and feel sorry for themselves. It's just like when Jorge tested positive in the Division Series. I told Alex, don't worry about these guys. When the game starts, it's game on with this group.

Obviously, we would have loved to have had Ronald with us. We'd love to have a lot of the guys that we lost with us. But it's still -- it's good that he can come here and feel this and experience it.

You know, it's like when you come here and you experience it, you do that. I want to remember that. I want to remember that feeling when we get to Spring Training, how hard it is to get here, how hard you have to work and be consistent every day in order to put yourself in this position.

Q. I think you answered the question on Kyle Wright, it gives you another length option. Since he started last year in the postseason, does he give you an option to start as well?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Game 4 is we're not tied to anything right now. We're open to a lot of different options, and he could definitely be one of those.

Q. Yesterday Alex was raving about some of the moves you made and what you did with all the outfielders. You worked as a manager now for two different general managers, worked with a lot of farm directors. How do you adapt to the different divisions that they have while staying true to the organization that you only know and kind of stay true to being a steward of it?

BRIAN SNITKER: You know, it's not easy. But I respect each and every one of those guys that came before Alex and what they did. They all did great things for this organization.

Sometimes like I noticed with Alex, on that July 31st, on August 1st, he can drop a whole bunch of guys in your lap, and you've got to figure out how to sort them out and what to do with them. That's what we do.

I think too just being up front and honest with the guys you get, this is what we're going to do, and this is how I see it. Nothing personal, but this is all about the club. This time of year, it's about winning games and not individuals. Thank God that Alex has identified guys that have come in and fit that mold perfectly. They've all come into our clubhouse and wanting to be a part.

Most of the time, or all the time, the message is I'll do whatever you need me to do to help us win games. And you really appreciate the professionalism in the players when they do that.

Q. I know there are dozens of elements that factor into winning or losing games in series, but over the last few days, as you've analyzed the Astros, is there one thing that jumps out that keeps popping up in your mind as you break them down?

BRIAN SNITKER: Just how strong they are offensively. I mean, this is a veteran, good, just solid, really, really professional team. These guys have been through the wars, this whole group has been through the wars. They're professional players, and they're really strong.

It's going to be an unbelievable challenge for us, but we're pretty good too. I think the biggest thing is just how well rounded a club it is.

Q. Sorry for another "this is your life" type of question, but in 2016 you're managing in the Minors. I'm guessing that, if it had never gone beyond that, you'd have thought, yeah, I lived a good life. I've done what I wanted to do. But could you possibly have imagined having not experienced what's happened over these last few years?

BRIAN SNITKER: You know, you're absolutely right. I thought in '16, I said, I don't need -- I kind of put this -- I thought it was probably off the table when I left that time in that last recycle like that. When it happened, it's like, absolutely, I'll try this.

You're right, I couldn't imagine how great this has been and what's transpired since that time because I wasn't looking for that. I wasn't expecting it. When I got the call, that's not what I was expecting to hear. I've been blessed to be able to be in this position.

I've said many times too I think this happened to me at a really good time in my life. I'm probably better versed to handle this position later in my career than I would have been earlier.