Braves’ Brian Snitker explains why he’s sticking with Raisel Iglesias amid struggles

The Atlanta Braves won 89 games last season and earned a playoff berth in the National League. Brian Snitker’s squad couldn’t roll their success into 2025, and the team is sitting under .500 more than a month into the season. While some of that can be attributed to injuries to stars like Spencer Strider, there are other culprits. One of the biggest points of concern is Raisel Iglesias’ struggles at the end of games.

Over the last two seasons, Iglesias put up back-to-back campaigns with 30 saves or more. His ERA was low and he was effective coming out of Snitker’s bullpen. This year, however, the closer already has two losses and two blown saves on his record. After they weren’t an issue for the first 11 years of his career, home runs are killing Iglesias.

After he gave up a two-run shot to Cincinnati Reds outfielder Rece Hinds on Thursday, Iglesias leads relievers in home runs allowed on the season with six. He only needed to pitch 15 innings to surpass the number of long balls he gave up in 2024.

Despite a tough start to the season, Snitker is going to stick with the 35-year-old, according to Atlanta Journal writer Ken Sugiura.

“I’m not concerned with it yet,” Brian Snitker said. “He’s been through this stuff before and he’ll fight through it again. Like I said, the three outings prior to last night were pretty darn good. And he set the bar really, really high last year.”

Snitker doesn’t have very many options outside of Iglesias. Pierce Johnson is one of the only relievers who might be able to fill his shoes as the closer.

Iglesias impressed last season, and his play will determine whether or not the Braves can turn things around. Atlanta has a chance during their weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates to get back to the .500 mark. Braves players are confident that if they find some consistency, they can make noise in the NL East. In order for them to do that, though, they need Iglesias to return to his 2024 form.