The Braves’ Brian Snitker is again Sporting News’ National League manager of the year.
Snitker, who guided the Braves to 97 regular-season wins and the NL East championship, won a September vote by NL managers to claim the award for a second consecutive season, Sporting News announced Wednesday.
This isn't baseball's "official" manager of the year award. That one, voted on by 30 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, will be announced next month. Snitker won that award last year, too.
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But Sporting News, which has presented manager of the year awards annually since 1936, said Snitker becomes the fifth to win its version in consecutive seasons, joining the Cardinals' Billy Southworth (1941-42), the Braves' Bobby Cox (2002-05), the Indians' Terry Francona (2016-17) and the Brewers' Craig Counsell (2017-18, sharing the award with Snitker in '18).
Also Wednesday, Sporting News named Braves third baseman Josh Donaldson its National League comeback player of the year, as voted on by NL players. He's the sixth Brave to win the award, the first since pitcher Tim Hudson in 2010.
Donaldson, who bounced back from an injury-decimated 2018 season to hit 37 home runs with 94 RBIs and a .900 OPS this season, is eligible to file for free agency after the World Series.
