"He likes to play baseball": Brian Snitker says Ronald Acuna Jr. is striving to improve in winter ball after Braves' early postseason exit

Brian Snitker, the Atlanta Braves manager, has put a second consecutive disappointing ending to a season behind him. The Braves won a major league-best 104 games during the regular season this year.

Yet their postseason lasted just four games. The Braves were eliminated by the Philadelphia Phillies in a National League Division Series. It was a repeat of 2022. The Braves won the NL East and had 101 wins that year but were also bounced by the Phillies in four games in an NLDS.

Yet Snitker, the Braves ninth-year manager, is undaunted. He realizes Atlanta has a loaded roster and should win plenty of games again next season.

The biggest thing for Snitker now is figuring out how to advance in the playoffs.

Braves try to figure out a formula for LDS

The Atlanta Braves were one of three teams who finished in the top two in their league and earned a bye in the postseason, yet failed in an LDS round this year.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were the second seed in the NL and got swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in three games. The Baltimore Orioles, seeded No. 1 in the American League, were also swept and ousted by the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers.

With five days off between the end of the regular season and the start of the NLDS, Snitker and the Braves tried to use the downtime wisely. They played intrasquad games for three straight days at Turner Field, including one in which fans were invited to attend.

The Braves still fell flat. They were shut out by the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 and managed just eight runs total in the four games.

“I just think it’s hard when you shut this thing down for five days,” Snitker said. “I thought we did the best we could as far as keeping the guys ready. They were engaged. Everything was great. But you know what? That adrenaline and all that baseball players play by is hard to ramp back up.

“It’s what it is. Anything can happen in playoff baseball, as we know, and I tell the guys, until you get a seat at the table, you don’t know what's going to happen. You could take a day off and play and have the same thing happen. There’s just no rhyme or reason to the whole thing. We just have to do a better job of trying to stay ready.”

Acuna follows big year with more baseball

Despite their poor showing in the NLDS, the Braves had the best offense in baseball in 2023.

They hit 307 home runs in the regular season, tying the major-league record set by the Minnesota Twins in 2019. The Braves also led MLB in scoring with an average of 5.85 runs a game.

Right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. led the way and was a unanimous selection for the NL Most Valuable Player award as he became the first player in big-league history to have at least 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases in the same season.

Acuna hit .337/.416/.596 with 41 homers, 73 steals, 149 runs scored and 217 hits. He led the NL in OBP, OPS (1.012), at-bats (643), runs, hits and total bases (383).

Yet Acuna isn’t resting during the offseason. He is playing winter ball in his native Venezuela.

“Ronald wanted to play, pretty much,” Snitker said. “He is a baseball player. He likes to play baseball.”

First baseman Matt Olson was fourth in the MVP balloting after leading the league with 54 homers and 138 RBIs. He returns with everyone else in the Braves’ fearsome lineup except left fielder Eddie Rosario, who was not re-signed as a free agent.

The Braves hope a Jarred Kelenic and Vaughn Grissom platoon can replace Rosario. The 24-year-old Kelenic was ranked as the fourth-best prospect in the sport before the 2021 season by Baseball America but failed to gain a foothold in the big leagues.

“I know I just am excited about seeing this kid,” Snitker said. “Talked to a few of my scouting buddies and people that have seen him, and it sounds like he is a tooled-up really nice-looking player. He is a kid. It will be good for him to get in with our group, I think, our program and what we do and how we approach things. I think it will be really beneficial for a young, talented player.”

Pitching staff needs a boost

Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos’ primary offseason objective has been to strengthen a pitching staff that struggled in the postseason, allowing 11 home runs to the Phillies in the NLDS.

The Braves re-signed relievers Joe Jimenez and Pierce Johnson, traded with the Chicago White Sox for left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer and signed right-hander Reynaldo Lopez as a free agent.

Lopez could also wind up in a starting rotation that needs depth beyond lefty Max Fried and right-hander Spencer Strider.

Ageless Charlie Morton will return for his age 40 season after missing the postseason with right index finger inflammation.

The Braves could also use a bounce-back season from Bryce Elder, who went 7-1 with a 2.45 ERA in his first 17 starts last season but 5-3 with a 5.75 ERA in his last 17 outings. It was the first full season for Elder in the major leagues.

“I kind of talk about going tee-to-green,” Snitker said. “They don’t know until they do it and make those starts. I guarantee you that his preparation this winter will be different than it was the winters before because he knows what he’s in for. I think he is just going to continue to build on the experiences that he had last year.”

The Braves are also pushing hard to trade for White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease, the American League Cy Young award runner in 2022. Cease has two years of contractual control and grew up in Milton, Ga., a little less than 30 miles from Atlanta.

Leaving the core alone

Anthopoulos has stressed he will not trade any of the Braves’ hitters under long-term contracts. That group includes Acuna, Olson, catcher Sean Murphy, second baseman Ozzie Albies, third baseman Austin Riley and center fielder Michael Harris II.

“It’s good. Probably it’s as much for those guys to hear that as anything,” Snitker said of Anthopoulos’ public statement. “It’s a quality group of guys. It’s a pretty good core to build around and to have. Like I say, it’s probably more beneficial for those individual players. Because it’s a business. Things happen. It was nice that Alex did that."

Snitker’s task is to take that group after back-to-back postseason disappointments since the Braves’ World Series title in 2021 and win a seventh straight NL East title.

“You know what? We’re going to go to spring training trying to win the division and put ourselves in the same position (in 2024). We’ll just have to try and figure out a way to get keep these guys prepared.”