NewsSnider positive about ups and downs
Right fielder hopes to learn from struggles in first full season
By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com
10/01/09 3:20 PM EST
TORONTO -- This has been the summer of Travis Snider's big league education. As the rookie has tried to meet his own lofty expectations, along with the hopes of a fatigued fan base still waiting for someone to carry the Blue Jays back to baseball's promised land, he has learned a lot.Snider has learned that it takes more than a smooth swing to make it in the Major Leagues. Becoming the slugger that everyone believes Snider can be also requires studying approach, fine-tuning mechanics and understanding how to adjust on the fly. Most importantly, Snider knows that he needs to put all of that out of his mind when he steps into the batter's box.
That has been one of Snider's primary issues throughout this season -- one that has been trying at times for the young outfielder. At 21 years old, Snider took the field as Toronto's left fielder on Opening Day and he felt the weight of what was expected from him, a highly-touted first-round pick. As this season nears its end, Snider believes only good can come out of the success he tasted and the struggles he experienced.
"There's a lot of expectations," Snider said. "My expectations are probably higher than anybody else's. I try to live up to my own expectations, but I think the pressure that I was putting on myself and have continued to in certain situations, it's not even that you're trying to be somebody else, or you're trying to live up to the hype or what people say about you.
"Really, it's just a matter of not trusting your own ability when you get into the box. When I'm successful at the plate, I'm not thinking about things. I'm not concentrating on anything but me and the pitcher and allowing myself to be a hitter up there and to react. I think there's been a lot of instances when I'd try to swing too hard or try to be too perfect instead of just hitting.
"It's not something that you draw up and you're thinking, 'This is what's going to happen.' You're always thinking positive. You're always thinking you're not going to have to deal with these kinds of things. But, I don't think the experience could be any better for me from learning these kinds of things and dealing with them this year."
Throughout this season, Snider has gone through what most young hitters experience, sorting out how to alter his approach in order to keep up with the different ways big league pitchers attack him. There have been flashes of his potential -- multi-homer games on April 13 and Sept. 15, for example -- but it has not been an easy road for Snider.
Through 74 games, Snider has hit just .240 with nine home runs and 27 RBIs. Since being recalled in August after a three-month stint back in the Minors with Triple-A Las Vegas, Snider has hit .238 with 51 strikeouts in 130 at-bats. He did open the year with a .321 average over his first nine games, and heading into the season's final series, Snider has hit .333 over his last 10 contests.
Through all the peaks and valleys, Snider has tried not to get caught up in the success of one great game or overly frustrated by a poor stretch. Every swing, good or bad, has taught him something.
"Overthinking and overswinging," said Snider, explaining his struggles. "There's been a few times where you get frozen in certain counts where you're looking offspeed and the guy throws a good fastball down and away and you tip your cap and you walk back. But, there's also been, a lot more often now than ever before in my life, swinging through fastballs, and not just guys throwing 95 [mph], even guys throwing in the low 90s. That's something I've been working on with the coaches.
"It hasn't been like it has in the past where my swing has been kind of an effortless kind of thing. There's been a lot of muscling up and things that aren't good for my natural type of swing. You take it one day at a time and I feel like certain situations I'm getting better and seeing results."
Snider points to a sequence of at-bats against Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie on Sept. 23. The young left-handed hitter did not offer at a trio of sliders from the right-hander and worked into a full count in the second inning. Guthrie came back with another slider, this time drawing a swing from Snider, who struck out and headed back to the dugout.
"I spit on three sliders in the dirt and then swung at the fourth one," Snider said. "It's like, 'Hey, I did swing at that fourth one,' but you're learning to pick those pitches out and calm yourself down and understanding that a guy like that likes to use a slider in a 3-2 count. That's something you put in the memory bank for next time."
In his next at-bat, Snider jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Guthrie and sent it slicing over the left-field wall for a home run. It is swings like that one that have the Blue Jays convinced that Snider's offensive issues this season are not indicative of what's to come.
"All the kids end up having a setback and it's how they handle that," said Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who used the 14th overall pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft to claim Snider. "This is my 30th year in professional baseball and a lot of it is spent evaluating. You're not right all the time, but you never forget what you see when you see someone you like.
"You don't lose your confidence in that. There are certain things you always see in players that make you say, 'This guy is going to be OK.' That's why, I look at Snider, even though he's struggling, you don't hit balls the way he hits them to the oppostie field and not be able to hit and have power. He's going to be a good player."
Snider is confident in that as well, no matter how difficult this season has been at times.
"It's kind of been up and down," Snider said. "But, at the same time, knowing that you still have it there and the confidence is still there, I feel like I can hold my own at this level. I got off to a tough start, and still haven't really found that break where things really just get rolling and snowball, which I'm faithful will happen at some point.
"If it doesn't happen this year, you know you'll learn from it."
Jordan Bastian is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
