MLB WORLD SERIES: ASTROS VS BRAVES

October 29, 2021

Brian Snitker

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. What did you hear about Charlie's surgery, and what is the expectation heading into Spring Training?

BRIAN SNITKER: He had it yesterday, and I think we'll see him here. I think he's coming back this afternoon or tomorrow, I believe.

What I've heard, the expectation is good that he should heal fine and be ready to go in Spring Training and be well.

Q. We've seen the postseason turn into something of a war of attrition this year, especially with pitchers. I'm curious if that gives you any concern for what it might look like if the postseason is expanded?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, and I don't know if this was -- hopefully, this is not a sign of things to come as far as looking at that ticker every day and seeing all the guys that are going down. It wasn't just pitchers. It was position players. It's all real stuff too, that's the thing. It wasn't just nagging stuff. It was guys just breaking things and bad pulls and whatnot.

Hopefully, as we get this season under us and guys have a normal off-season and another good Spring Training, we can kind of get back to guys staying healthy.

Q. This might sound a little crazy, but winning three straight games in the World Series is hard. How much incentive is there to close this out here, or just simply one game at a time?

BRIAN SNITKER: Oh, a lot. I think there's a big incentive to win every day. That's kind of the way we're going to approach it. Right now we're coming into this game trying to win one in a row really.

I think, just like in the regular season, you can't look ahead and say we have to do this. We don't have to do anything but win today, the way I look at it. I always tell guys, if you feel like you have to win 8 out of 11 during the season, what happens if you lose three in a row? Then you've got to win eight in a row. I don't think that's healthy to do that to yourself.

So we just come in, and the important thing is today. We try to do everything we can to win today and worry about tomorrow tomorrow.

Q. Your first year in the Braves organization as a player, you just missed Dusty. It was right after he left for the Dodgers. So when was your first interaction with Dusty Baker, and what are your memories of him?

BRIAN SNITKER: I didn't have any really until I was a Major League coach and I was a manager. Knew of him. He was a really great player here and had an extensive, really good career here. So was aware of Dusty but never really -- I never met him until I came up as a Major League coach.

Q. Freddie was talking about just driving in and what the energy and atmosphere looked like. So what was it like for you for your first World Series coming into The Battery and Truist Park here today?

BRIAN SNITKER: I got here so early. I mean, I felt it. Shoot, you feel it. I went and got in the truck at my house and the chill in the air, and everything was way postseason, I'll tell you. It was a neat feeling.

Then you kind of look and see how busy it is, people outside The Battery and things like that, walking the streets. It was a neat feeling to know we're coming here to play the first World Series game in our park.

Q. You've spoken before about the need to get 18 innings out of your bullpen the next two games. How does that affect how you manage your way through tonight? And do you have any more that you can say about your Game 4 plan?

BRIAN SNITKER: No, I don't have anything about Game 4. Tonight we're going to start this game and go after it. If we can win it, we're going to do everything we can to win it and worry about tomorrow tomorrow.

Q. I know with Soler back, and Joc struggling a little bit, is that a difficult decision at all, or is he so valuable as a pinch hitter that it makes it --

BRIAN SNITKER: No, it's tough. I loved the last two games where we could get them both in there. I love having them both. Unfortunately, we can't. Soler had some really, really good at-bats those first two days, and Joc has done some of his best work coming off the bench for us.

It's not a bad thing because he can be so valuable in big spots over the course of a game and shows a penchant for being able to do it. But I think Jorge's at-bats were really good that last series too.

Q. And the personnel you have, it kind of makes it hard to go righty, lefty, that kind of thing?

BRIAN SNITKER: It's kind of who we are. It's just kind of the way we're built, and it's worked so far.

Q. With Freddie's upcoming free agency, is there any way to quantify what he means to this franchise, and can you envision him in a different uniform?

BRIAN SNITKER: He means a lot to this franchise, to me personally, to our organization, to that clubhouse, our team. There isn't a way to quantify it. Just what he brings is so important. But we all know when this is over, we'll see. Hopefully, he's back. But I don't know how all that will work. It's not my area really.

Would I love to have him back? Absolutely. I think everybody in that room would love to have him back, but I also know this is a business and things happen.

Q. They're doing a tribute for Hank Aaron before the game tonight, and of course, your history with him goes back decades and has been well documented. I know it's hard to sum up, but what do you think of when you think of Hank Aaron?

BRIAN SNITKER: You know what I think of, as much as who Hank was and what he meant to the game, I think about him as just a really, really good friend is the first and foremost; that he was a good friend, was always there any time I ever needed anything.

I can remember back when he would call me as a young manager, and the first thing he'd want is how's the family doing? Is there anything you need? When I'd see him in the off-season, we'd always part, and he's like, you let me know if I can ever do anything for you.

I used to go in the off-season and sit in his office. I'd just be bored, and I'd go up and hang with him and talk. It was funny, it was like I remember Zito told me one time, this guy's hit 755 home runs. There's a lot of people after him. But I would. I'd just go sit in his office and hang out, and we'd just talk. It was awesome. I cherish that, like I did with Bobby in the radar room before every game. I'd go down a half hour early just to have that time, which is the priceless-type times in your life that you look back on and feel blessed that you had that with those gentlemen.

Q. Do you ever think back to your earliest days in Anderson 1982 and think about how far you've come?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, I do. I told -- my wife and I talking about it the other night, it's like my God. After we won the National League, you look back, and it was a lifetime ago, it seems like.

I look back, and her dragging the kids, following me around the southeast for years and going to Spring Training and her showing up, and the kids had grown like -- it's unbelievable the transformation in the time that I'd been away. Yeah, it just kind of still blows me away to think of everything that we've been through, and now we're sitting here.

That's why we're so blessed and cherish each and every day of this because you're never guaranteed it, and I'm going to enjoy it.