After a 97-win season and an NL East title in 2019, the Atlanta Braves have decided that they have put together a winning combination, not just with their young players, but in the in the front office and the entire coaching staff.
On Monday, the team announced that Alex Anthopoulos has been promoted to president of baseball operations on top of his current title of general manager. The team went on to announce contract extensions for manager Anthopoulos, as well as manager Brian Snitker and his entire coaching staff.
The 42-year-old Anthopoulos has been working in the majors since 2003 when he joined the Toronto Blue Jays as a scouting coordinator and was promoted to vice president of baseball operations and assistant general manager as quickly as 2006. He was promoted by Toronto again in 2009, spending the next six seasons as the general manager of the Blue Jays. Anthopoulos helped the team snap a 22-year postseason drought when they won the AL East title in 2015. His accomplishment led to him being named the Sporting News Executive of the Year in 2015.
Anthopoulos also served as the vice president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers for two years prior to signing on as the Braves’ executive vice president and general manager in November 2017. In addition to his latest promotion, he will now be with the club through the 2024 season. He will still report to Chairman Terry McGuirk, who praised the work Anthopoulos has done, saying in a statement, “Since he joined the organization, Alex has continued the winning tradition that Braves fans have come to expect.”
The combination of Anthopoulos in the front office and Snitker at the helm on the field have led the Braves to two consecutive NL East titles and the Braves want to keep producing winning teams. After announcing Anthopoulos’s promotion and contract extension, they announced the extension of Snitker and his coaching staff through the 2021 season.
Snitker, 64, is starting his 44th season with the Braves organization and his fourth full season as the team’s skipper. He was named NL Manager of the Year in 2018 and was a finalist for the award again in 2019. His coaching staff consists of catching coach Sal Fasano, pitching coach Rick Kranitz, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, bullpen coach Marty Reed, third base coach Ron Washington, first base coach Eric Young, Sr., assistant hitting coach Jose Castro and bench coach Walt Weiss.
Together, Anthopoulos, Snitker, and the rest of the coaching staff have taken a young team to the postseason in each of the last two seasons. As the players gain experience and mature, the Braves obviously see the potential that the entire group has to take the team all the way to the World Series for the first time since their most recent win in 1995.
