when will Snider come around?

victor page · Post #1 » by **victor page** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:44 pm

Everyone cuts Snider a lot of slack because he's 23 and blablabla at 23 years of age some all stars were in double AA but his main problem seems to be a slow bat. Does that get better with age?

It's not like he needs to gain strength, it's just a bat speed issue. He's way behind on anything 94 mph +. And he's not exactly mashing 90-94 mph heat.

A young guy can be forgiven for having trouble with breaking stuff but this is different. I also don't see how Cito's weird lineup decisions last year would affect Snider's bat speed.

I can't wait for the next excuse - most likely will be injuries. I heard about Lyle Overbay's wrist injury for 3 years.

I want Snider to be the 35 HR, high on-base guy everyone seems to think he's capable of but I just don't see it.

WpgPage · Post #2 » by **WpgPage** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:45 pm

Why does everyone talk about his bat speed, I have literally read hundreds of scouting reports and not a single one has ever mentioned his bat speed is an issue. When he picks up a fast ball hes all over them look at some of the HR's he hits great bat speed. If anything his problems seam to be pitch recognition, a problem that could be very easily attributed to his inability to get consistent playing time whether due to injuries or managing incompetence. At his age and with his MLB experience level ill give him at least 1000 more AB's before I start questioning his potential.

Randle McMurphy · Post #3 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:00 pm

His timing is off through 16 games. The approach is fine. There's nothing wrong with him ( and it's certainly not your theory of a slow bat).

Post #4 » by **Schad** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:23 pm

Right now, he's the victim of poor luck on balls in play...he won't hit .175 in-play this year. Once that rebounds to more normal levels, he'll be fine.

With regards to his power, his numbers from 21-23 average out to around 20 HRs/year; it's pretty likely that he'll end up hitting around that figure this season, and while 35 HRs might take time/might not happen, he'll be productive.

flatjacket1 · Post #5 » by **flatjacket1** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:52 pm

First off, I can say I'm a Travis Snider hater. I always argue with people when my trade ideas such as Travis for Hernandez are shot down when their crack pipe dreams of 50 HR with 1.100 OPS.

I don't think he will ever be a super star, I think everybody who boost him is crazy.

I do however think that he will be a good starter one day. This year hes been in a slump and as we should have learned from Bautista last year, swings can be changed if that is the problem. The Jays have 78 scouts, if a few of them start calling out his swing I'm sure something will be done with him. Hes is a slump right now. He did not regress, he looks the same as last year but stronger with less weight.

Hes still on pace for 100 RBIs and 50 stolen bases though (LOL if he kept up for 162) so its not like hes being terribly inefficient.

DonYon · Post #6 » by **DonYon** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:48 pm

It's funny how the guys everyone's jumping on early in the season (Snider, Lind, Hill) happen to be the team's leaders in RBIs haha. That's not necessarily a defense to their inconsistency so far and I guess that Snider is particularly worrisome since he's never proved himself in the majors yet, but come on give these guys at least 60-80 games before you even begin to question their capabilities. There's too many variables in baseball that can affect a baseball player's performance like the pitchers they've faced, just pure lack of luck, or something really dumb like a hitch in their warm-up routine. You're basing the assessment on a sample of 16 games, so it could be anything really. What's to suggest Snider won't go on a 20 game hit-streak during the season to balance out his early hit droughts?

-MetA4- · Post #7 » by **-MetA4-** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:36 am

Randle McMurphy wrote:His timing is off through 16 games. The approach is fine. There's nothing wrong with him ( and it's certainly not your theory of a slow bat).

I've seen enough to notice consistent holes in his approach. A top power hitter should not be missing fastballs at the rate he does. Too early to say anything about him long term; but there is clearly an issue there.

Randle McMurphy · Post #8 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 2:59 am

-MetA4- wrote:
Randle McMurphy wrote:His timing is off through 16 games. The approach is fine. There's nothing wrong with him ( and it's certainly not your theory of a slow bat).

I've seen enough to notice consistent holes in his approach. A top power hitter should not be missing fastballs at the rate he does. Too early to say anything about him long term; but there is clearly an issue there.

You subscribe to the "slow bat" theory too, eh? :lol:

I've seen nothing with Snider that would concern me about his future development as a hitter. Perhaps his patience has been a bit of a problem, but he's improving in that area.

-MetA4- · Post #9 » by **-MetA4-** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:16 am

Randle McMurphy wrote:You subscribe to the "slow bat" theory too, eh?

I subscribe to the theory that he swings through far too many fastballs he should be crushing; in fastball counts to boot.

Randle McMurphy · Post #10 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:28 am

-MetA4- wrote:
Randle McMurphy wrote:You subscribe to the "slow bat" theory too, eh?

I subscribe to the theory that he swings through far too many fastballs he should be crushing; in fastball counts to boot.

Sounds a bit like a timing issue to me. Not a "slow bat" issue.

Post #11 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:37 am

I think he'll eventually be fine, but when you struggle over 200 games or so of major league PAs with a specific pitch, that's not a terrible sample to make an observation... especially when you're consistently late on them.

It's something he can correct, it's not necessarily that his bat speed is slow, it's that he seems to have trouble timing the whole thing. That's promising, because it's correctable a lot more than a bat speed issue.

victor page · Post #12 » by **victor page** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:06 pm

I haven't seen anything that refutes the slow bat theory - and it's not just this season, he was getting mowed down by power pitchers last year too. Call it a timing issue if you want - the issue is that he has to start his bat so early in anticipation of the heater that he has no chance at all on an off speed pitch.

Corey Patterson and EE are not great hitters but watch how both of them will jump all over hard fastballs - often EE will foul a 95 mph heater down the 3rd base side meaning he's too fast on it.
I've never seen Snider do that - he can't get the barrel through nearly that fast.

WpgPage · Post #13 » by **WpgPage** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:01 pm

I'm sorry but your just flat out wrong on this one, the actual speed of his bat is excellent its one of the reasons hes projected to be a good hitter. I'm not sure how anyone who actually takes the time to investigate this can come to any other conclusion, his problem is identifying what pitchers are throwing at him and reading the ball out of the pitchers hand. Hes clearly guessing on most pitches thinking breaking ball and buy the time hes identifies the correct pitch hes to late to but a good swing on it. Hes had 675 AB's thats barley over a full season ill start getting concerned at 1500 AB's.

Dr Positivity · Post #14 » by **Dr Positivity** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:54 pm

So was Adam Lind's good year a fluke or what. I knew Hill's 09 wasn't going to last, but Lind felt so legit. Darn...

WpgPage · Post #15 » by **WpgPage** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:03 pm

Lind is getting better to early to tell where he actually is will need to get a few months of AB's this season, good thing is hes taken 3 BB in last 3 games and is getting back to being patient and going deep into his AB's. Hasn't hit a lot of HR's yet but that will come hopefully.

damadmonk · Post #16 » by **damadmonk** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:04 pm

I would like to see Snider moved up in the 2 slot in front of JB.

He's got good speed and will see a lot of strikes before JB. It would give him the best chance to hit out of is slump.