Brian Snitker Responds to Michael Harris' Lack of Plate Discipline

Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker is known to be a player's manager. But Snitker appeared to be at a loss for words, at least initially, when trying to explain the approach center fielder Michael Harris II had during his at-bats in the eighth and ninth inning Wednesday night.

“Yeah, I think every major league hitter needs plate discipline ... I don’t know how to answer that quite honestly," said Snitker.

Harris arguably had the two biggest at-bats of Wednesday's 2-1 Braves loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the eighth inning, Harris have an opportunity with second and third and only one out. But he struck out on three pitches.

The center fielder struck out again with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth.

During the eighth inning, Harris swung at two splitters that were significantly out of the zone. The Braves manager probably wants to see more patience from Harris, but it was clear Snitker didn't want to completely call out the center fielder for the wild swings.

"You want to see him have plate discipline," Snitker said. "When you’re facing a guy that’s kind of all over the place and all that and the game is on the line, it’s tough to do that.

"The human element is they want to be a guy. They want to make things happen."

The tough thing about the eighth inning at-bat for Harris was he didn't need a hit to "make things happen." He could have tied the game with just contact because of the man at third base with fewer than two outs.

Just simply putting the ball in play would have also moved the go-ahead run to third base.

While speaking more generally about the Braves offense, Snitker emphasized the team needs to be better at making contact to score runs.

“We’ve got to do better in those situations. These guys are here for a reason, they're big leaguers," Snitker added. "We just as a club and a team, we’ve got to do better. Simple as that.

"We’ve got to put the ball in play. Whatever it is. Changing the approach. I don’t know. Whatever you got to do to put the ball in play. That’s the goal in those situations.

"We’re in situations right there, we don’t need a three-run homer, we don’t need to hit a homer. We’ve just got to put the ball in play.”

As a pinch hitter just before Harris' eighth inning at-bat, Drake Baldwin came to the plate with runners on base and no outs. Baldwin also struck out.

The Diamondbacks walked right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. after striking out Harris. With the bases loaded and two outs, third baseman Austin Riley struck out.

Overall, the Braves struck out with runners in scoring position four times in the final two innings Wednesday. Atlanta has stranded the sixth-most runners in the MLB this season.