That sound you hear is the clock winding down on the Atlanta Braves’ frustrating, disappointing 2025 season. Less than two months remain until the 50-67 Braves officially put 2025 behind them, and the end may be nearing for veteran manager Brian Snitker. The expectation remains that Snitker, who turns 70 in October, will retire after nearly a decade leading the Braves.
Despite this year’s struggles, it’s hard to call anything but Snitker’s Braves tenure a success, considering that he’s won six division titles and, most importantly, a 2021 World Series title.
It’s never too early to ask who will succeed Snitker in the Braves’ dugout, assuming that these are his final weeks as Atlanta’s manager. Will the Braves promote bench coach Walt Weiss, who previously managed the Colorado Rockies? Might Atlanta pursue David Ross, a former Braves catcher and ex-Chicago Cubs skipper?
You probably haven’t heard legendary Braves center fielder Andruw Jones’ name in those conversations, and understandably so. Jones, a five-time All-Star who is inching closer to entering the Hall of Fame, has never managed or served on a big-league coaching staff. However, he’s set to manage the Kingdom of the Netherlands team in next year’s World Baseball Classic, and it isn’t unrealistic to wonder if the next step is him eventually leading the Braves.
Should the Braves hire Andruw Jones as their next manager?
Although Jones has never run a professional baseball team, he already sounds like a manager when discussing the 2026 Netherlands team. Rather than manage a team built from a single country, Jones is tasked with leading a squad featuring players from Curacao, Aruba, the Dutch Antilles, and Holland.
“Every ego is out of the window,” Jones told Major League Baseball’s official website. “We win as a team, we lose as a team. We don’t pinpoint who made a mistake or did not make a mistake.
“This is a game of failure,” Jones added. “You’re trying to fail less than the other team, so [that] you can win. The clubhouse we have is a family, that’s all it is.”
Braves will likely go in another direction than Andruw Jones
We’re skeptical, though, that Jones will earn the opportunity to manage the Braves next season — and not solely because he’s already committed to managing the Kingdom of the Netherlands squad. Atlanta still has a championship window, and hiring someone familiar with serving on a major-league coaching staff makes more sense.
That’s not to say that the Braves must hire Weiss, Ross, or ex-Baltimore Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros have done just fine with first-time managers, and Snitker didn’t become an MLB manager until he was 60. With that said, the Braves are better off targeting a safer option, one capable of handling a star-heavy team with championship expectations.
