Travis Snider Scouting Report and Video
We’ve written extensively on Travis Snider on the site, dating back from August 2006 to the present. If you need a little background on Snider or need to catch up you can skim the following articles.
Travis Snider Mid-Season update 2007
Keith Law Gives Travis Snider Respect
Mop Up Duty Top 10 Prospects Pre-Season 2008
Quick Update:
After being brought along slowly by the Toronto Blue Jays Snider spent under a month in high A Dunedin. He had his way with the league (although against the best prospects, the starters he had a .779 OPS and he feasted on relievers with a 1.067 OPS). He’s struggled against the older competition so far in AA but its way too early to read anything into that, as 20 is young for the league.
Here is exclusive video of a Travis Snider at-bat vs Twins prospect Alex Burnett.
[youtube Abzx9l1XlKI]
Blasphemy Warning: I disagree with Keith Law
I know its not cool with the Internet crowd to disagree with anything Keith Law says but we see two different baseball players. Take into account he does this for a living and I’m a blogger.
Keith Law Snider Quote:
He’s a solid-average runner and has at least a 60 arm in right field. He has a good idea at the plate, and his contact rate should improve as he develops. This was a steal of a pick at No. 14 in ‘06; among hitters, only Longoria (No. 3 selection) looks better right now.
I’m not sure what the Law is watching but Snider is slow on the base paths, certainly below average. Pretty much every player I watched on the Dunedin roster could beat Snider from the plate to second. Snider has been used almost exclusively as the DH during his time in AA New Hampshire. Reports from some scouts (Keith Law included) think he can play RF in the majors. The Jays brass disagrees. During my visit I only caught Snider in the DH role, so I can’t comment on his fielding. But if his mobility is any indication I can’t see him covering much ground in a major league outfield. I guess we’ll see where this ends up.
Snider certainly loses value if he becomes a Billy Butler style prospect. This also drops him in my overall prospect rankings when considering the tools and range of other Top 15ish prospects Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce, Cameron Maybin, etc. I now see Snider projecting similarly to a player of Matt LaPorta’s stature. There’s nothing wrong with a 30 HR+ potential first basemen/DH type.
What’s the Law???
This is a good review. Saying he is the best in the ’06 draft next to Longoria is very promising for the Jays. Is Snider a Keith Law pick? If he is maybe Keith Law is looking to get respect from a ML team again and stop swapping chicken shwarma recipes with bloggers who love him.
I appreciate the split between starting pitchers and relievers, that is interesting to know. Keith Law (your boy) seems to think he is being rushed. Combine that with the fact he is playing with an elbow injury and that might attribute to some of his struggles this season.
Travis Snider hit his 8th HR in 117 AA ABs, going 2-4 today. He’s hitting .333 with 6 XBHs in his last 10 games (36 ABs). He now has 12 HRs in 178 ABs this year (1 every 14.8 ABs) compared to 16 HRs in 457 ABs last season (1 every 28.6 ABs). So yeah, I think he’s catching on to AA. He’s still striking out a lot, but when he makes contact good things happen.