DALLAS — Atlanta Braves teammates often cited catcher Travis d’Arnaud as a vital leader in the clubhouse and one of the most important factors in the team chemistry that helped them win the 2021 World Series and overcome the departures of free agents and others since.
That is why it was so surprising to many observers when the Braves declined an $8 million team option on d’Arnaud’s contract in November after team officials in the past had said privately that they hoped to keep d’Arnaud in the organization through — and even beyond — his playing years.
Snitker said he didn’t have any inkling during the season that d’Arnaud might not be back or that his catching coach, Sal Fasano, would be fired, along with hitting coach Kevin Seitzer.
“No, not till after the season was over,” Snitker said Monday during baseball’s Winter Meetings, in his first public comments about the moves. “I can just speculate on the roster things and all that. I’m not honestly privy to a lot going on and things like that. It was just things that happened. There’s decisions and things that you do putting your club together, and things that go on that aren’t real popular all the time.”
Snitker added, to emphasize that part about it not being a popular move, “I’ve had a lot of people come to me that are big Travis fans; I’m a big Travis fan. And then the coaching moves that we did, I think it’s just something that you do every now and then. You assess things. I don’t see anything or any move that we made that we’re not going to overcome. We’re going to be a really, really good club again.”
Brian Snitker, left, and former hitting coach Kevin Seitzer enjoyed plenty of success together, but the Braves wanted a new voice. (Brett Davis / USA Today)
The shift in direction regarding d’Arnaud’s future had nothing to do with any changed opinion of him or his performance.
Rather, it was one in a series of moves to free up payroll after the Braves learned in late October or early November that right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. and starting pitcher Spencer Strider, both returning from surgeries, would likely miss at least the first month of the season. The team also found out reliever Joe Jiménez could miss most or all of the 2025 season following postseason knee surgery for an injury that turned out to be worse than anyone had known.
“It’s always going to be difficult, I think, when you lose somebody of Travis’s pedigree, and what he brings to your team,” Snitker said. “It’s more about the guy; he’s a great player, has been for a long time. I’m happy for him that he’s back home and the situation that he got in (signing with the Los Angeles Angels).”
Snitker also acknowledged he had hoped the Braves might still re-sign d’Arnaud as a free agent after the option was declined. But that hope vanished soon after when D’Arnaud, 35, signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the Angels less than two weeks after becoming a free agent.
A native of Long Beach, California, d’Arnaud will be playing near his home and for Angels manager Ron Washington, the longtime former Braves infield and third-base coach who knows well what d’Arnaud can do for a team and what a strong mentor he can be for young Angels catching standout Logan O’Hoppe.
The Braves had arguably the best and most experienced catching tandem in baseball during the past two seasons with d’Arnaud and Sean Murphy, who missed the first two months of the 2024 season after straining an oblique on Opening Day.
Murphy, a 2023 All-Star in his first season with Atlanta, struggled mightily after returning from the injury, finishing with just a .193 average, .636 OPS and 76 OPS+ —all career worsts — in 72 games. A year before that, he batted .251 with an .844 OPS and 127 OPS+ in 108 games.
Snitker believes that missing so much time early put Murphy behind and that he couldn’t get back up to speed. Like others, Murphy also perhaps tried to do too much to pick up the slack for a slumping offense. Instead, his violent swing produced only a much higher whiff rate and reduced average in 2024.
Murphy will likely be backed by Chadwick Tromp to start the season (top prospect Drake Baldwin is another option). Snitker believes a healthy Murphy could benefit from the increased workload he’ll have in 2025 when he’ll be used in a more conventional starting role rather than splitting duties with d’Arnaud.
As for any notion of a leadership void with d’Arnaud gone, following the free-agent departures of Freddie Freeman following the 2021 season, Dansby Swanson after the 2022 season, and high-energy motivator Washington and outfield coach Eric Young Sr. after 2022 (Young joined Washington’s staff), Snitker said he’s not at all concerned.
“They asked me that when we lost Freddie, Dansby, and all that,” Snitker said. “I don’t worry about that. That (locker) room’s full of leader-type guys, the (strong) makeup guys that play. And I think those leaders — they lead by example, those guys, how they come to work every day, how they prepare, the energy with which they play. That’s probably the last thing that I worry about is the credibility and the so-called leadership in the room.”
Regarding the firing of Seitzer, who had been the longest-tenured hitting coach in the majors with 10 seasons in Atlanta, and hiring of Tim Hyers as his replacement, Snitker said, “It’s kind of like, (Seitzer) didn’t do anything wrong, nothing. I used to think it was kind of cliche, but I think maybe the ‘new voice’ thing, there’s something to that with guys. I’m really excited about Tim and what he’s going to bring.”
Snitker on the rotation
The Braves could lose a pair of starters to free agency, ace Max Fried and 41-year-old Charlie Morton, in addition to being without Strider when the season begins. They are in the market for a starting pitcher via free agency — Walker Buehler is a possibility for a short deal as he looks to rebuild his stock before another run at free agency — or via trade, though no one expects the Braves to bring in one of the higher-priced available starters.
Regardless of how the rest of the rotation shapes up, Snitker likes the Braves’ chances with a returning trio of Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, and Spencer Schwellenbach, who was a revelation as a rookie in 2024.
“It’s the second week of December, so I’m not worried about that either,” Snitker said of the rotation. “We’re still going to go to camp and we’ll probably get seven guys, at least, stretched out and ready to go. Because we’re going to use them all again. That thing’s going to be shuffled around, we’re going to need a lot of guys just like we did last year.”
Anthopoulos said Grant Holmes will get a chance to win a starting job after impressing as both a reliever and starter in his 2024 rookie season. That rookie season came after Holmes, 28, toiled nearly a decade in the minors without a big-league call-up.
Ian Anderson, healthy after a long rehab from Tommy John surgery, is another rotation candidate along with top prospects Hurston Waldrep and AJ Smith-Shawver, assuming none is traded.
Still, the Braves want to add at least one proven starter to help replace the potential — seemingly inevitable — departures of Fried and Morton, who between them made 59 starts and pitched 339 2/3 innings in 2024.
“We’ve definitely talked about it at length,” Anthpoulos, the Braves’ general manager and president of baseball operations, said of adding a starter. “Definitely something we’d like to do. We’d also like to find out about Grant Holmes. We’re going to need more than five starters regardless. So, they’re going to have their opportunities. But we really liked what we saw out of Grant Holmes at the end of the year. He’s out of (minor-league) options. But we liked what we saw out of (him in) the rotation.
“You’d love to, in a perfect world, have six, seven, eight guys and feel really good about it. We have a lot of young arms, but you never know who’s going to take a step forward. Strider did a few years ago. Schwellenbach this past year. Ian Anderson a few years ago. Kyle Wright a few years ago. So, we’ve had a pretty good story (with young starting pitchers) the last few years. I don’t know that you can expect that each year.”
Anthopoulos added, “Grant Holmes will be stretched out in spring, and we’d like to find out what he can do, because we do think there’s significant upside there, if he can get a starting spot. But again, that won’t stop us from either trading for or signing a starter. And also when Strider comes back, hopefully, the top three guys are ready to go and they’ve had no health issues. So we still think the rotation has a chance to be a strength, especially when Strider comes back, assuming health for the other three.”
(Photo of Brian Snitker: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)
