Former big league outfielder Travis Snider has signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, the team announced yesterday. He’ll hope to use the independent circuit as a launching pad back into affiliated ball — as many players before him have done.
Now 30 years of age, Snider is a former first-round pick of the Blue Jays (14th overall in 2006) that was touted as one of the game’s elite prospects throughout the entirety of his minor league tenure. Both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus placed Snider within the top 15 overall prospects in baseball on two separate editions of their annual top 100 rankings.
Snider made his big league debut at the age of 20 and impressed in a 24-game stint with the Jays, hitting .301/.338/.466 with a pair of homers in 80 plate appearances. It seemed as though he was on the cusp of cementing himself as a quality big league regular for years to come, but Snider was never able to maintain much consistency in the big leagues. He was eventually flipped to the Pirates for another struggling first-rounder: right-hander Brad Lincoln. While Snider had a solid 2014 campaign with the Bucs (.264/.338/.438, 13 homers), he cratered in Baltimore the following season and hasn’t been in the Majors since.
Snider did log useful numbers in Triple-A with the Rangers and Mets last season, hitting a combined .296/.375/.432 in 485 plate appearances. He’s also a lifetime .306/.387/.478 hitter at that level. Given his success in Triple-A, it stands to reason that a nice showing in the Atlantic League could open a door for Snider to land a minor league deal with a club in need of outfield depth in the upper minors.
Good luck Travis! It ain’t over till it’s over…..
Well, he’ still one of the top 100 prospects…in the Atlantic League.
Saw this kid rake in the FSL. Thought he was gonna crush for years to come. Whoops.
Lunchbox had 1 good year in 2014 in Pittsburgh when he played just about everyday. When he was a part time player, was not so good coming off the bench.
I love the “fans” who insist that Neil “Huntingdon never makes any good trades” because DK does their thinking for them.
He traded Travis Snider (now of the Long Island Ducks) for Steven Brault and Stephen Tarpley. Brault is the teams’ #6 starter/swingman and has two wins already this year. Tarpley was half of the package (along with Tito Polo) traded for Ivan Nova.
Add to that his acquisition of Trevor Williams for an assistant pitching coach (Jim Benedict) and Huntingdon traded Snider, Polo and Benedict (a guy in independent ball, a warm body prospect and an ASSISTANT pitching coach) for 3 of his top 6 MLB starters.
They’re either ignorant or masked by bitterness towards ownership. In think most fans recognize a well run organization under Huntington’s direction.
Snider, after traded was eventually released by Baltimore (all in 2015and resigned by the Pirates. So the Pirates got all 3 players involved in the original deal all in the same season.
Now if they could only get over .500 AND win a playoff game…..and yes, a blind dog will find the food bowl occasionally.
I too want lunchbox to make it in the major leagues.He had a fine year in 2014 as the fourthI outfielder but did not show for the O’s the next year.I do not know why he was rated so highly but I always thought that he could replicate his 2014 year yet it hasn’t been done.I hope he makes it back since I think that he fit in well with that Pirates team.
I’m getting flashbacks of him getting punched in his eye. That thing looked nasty.