#6 Prospect - Brandon Snyder

[Tony-OH]

I totally agree with you...It is very important that you can have good contact. But this is also the first year he really showed this..I mean, he was ok last year and before that, he wasn't good..Now, of course you would hope he would get better and maybe he has since he is still young. That being said, he didn't hit that much higher than Reimold did this year and Reimold did with many more walks and at a higher level.

Reimold has done this as well and yet, you don't seem to have talked about it much for what i have seen and you have soured on Nolan more this year despite that.

The one thing is, Synder did walk more last year and if he can get his walks back up and combine it with the better stats at the higher level, then you have someone to really get excited about.

But for right now, I just think Reimold needs to be higher. However, I guess the age factor is reason enough to say that Synder should be ahead of him.

Age was a huge factor in putting Snyder over Reimold. Reimold is three years older than Snyder and played in a league just one level higher. I like Reimold, just not as much as I like Snyder right now. One other thing is I've seen Reimold much more then I've seen Snyder which means I've seen more of the warts.

[Stotle]

Bottom line - Reimold is 3 years older than Snyder and played just 1 level higher than he did - And their overall production was roughly equal. I think that alone makes it easy to choose Snyder ahead. The position thing is an issue, but I'm not sure Reimold is really that good an OFer. And the fact that they didn't move him around to LF or CF says something on the negative side.

This is where I had Snyder - the only difference so far being - I had Erbe where Rowell is. Hey, The Hangout misses one every once in a while.

RF is a more valuable defensive position than LF. I'm not sure keeping him there says anything negative at all.

[Sports Guy]

Age was a huge factor in putting Snyder over Reimold. Reimold is three years older than Snyder and played in a league just one level higher. I like Reimold, just not as much as I like Snyder right now. One other thing is I've seen Reimold much more then I've seen Snyder which means I've seen more of the warts.

Well, Reimold only playing one level higher is the Orioles fault, not his.

[Frobby]

Well, Reimold only playing one level higher is the Orioles fault, not his.

Eh, I don't know. You could have justified promoting Reimold sometime in the second half, but you also could have justified promoting Snyder. And I do think that starting Reimold at Bowie this year made sense in light of his very high K rate in AA last year and in the AFL last fall.

At this point, arguing about this stuff is pointless. Reimold goes back to the AFL now and hopefully he puts up a good performance. Either way, he'll get a spring training invite next year and should get a shot at a roster spot. If he doesn't earn it, he'll be at Norfolk and Snyder will be at Bowie.

[Three Run Homer]

After looking at their stats does anybody else see Snyder being comprabale to a guy like Sean Casey?

I think Casey walks more than Snyder will, while Snyder will have more HR power. Casey was a plus defender in his prime, while Snyder will probably struggle on defense.

To me, Snyder looks like the next Shea Hillenbrand...hopefully with a better personality!

[NCRaven]

Well, Reimold only playing one level higher is the Orioles fault, not his.

Reimold made his improvement in his third year in the same league and 3 years older than Snyder. Snyder made his improvement in his first season in a pitchers' league/park. I hope Reimold makes an impact, but I feel better and better about Snyder being a productive starter when he settles into a position. With Reimold, I begin to expect platoon outfielder, DH and he still has to get past Montanez to get that far.

But that's the fun of this, if Snyder does well and Reimold does better, I'll be perfectly happy with the end result.

[Big Mac]

I think Casey walks more than Snyder will, while Snyder will have more HR power. Casey was a plus defender in his prime, while Snyder will probably struggle on defense.

To me, Snyder looks like the next Shea Hillenbrand...hopefully with a better personality!

I don't think he will.

[Frobby]

Reimold made his improvement in his third year in the same league and 3 years older than Snyder. Snyder made his improvement in his first season in a pitchers' league/park.

What you're saying doesn't make a lot of sense. This was Reimold's 2nd year at Bowie, not his third. And it's not like he had a bad line at Bowie in 2007 -- .306/.365/.565. If Snyder put up a line like that next year I'd be thrilled. The reason Reimold repeated Bowie was (1) because he only stayed healthy for 186 AB in 2007, and (2) to work on getting his strikeouts down. It's not like he was held back for poor performance.

[wildcard]

Most observers thought he could have played at Bowie over the last six weeks of the season and if had and put up good numbers, would that have changed your mind?

Not until Snyder shows improvement in his defense. He appears to have alot to work on there. Guys that can hit but can't field well have a harder time making it to the majors. And DHs are not as valuable as position players especially if the DH has limited power.

[NoVaO]

What you're saying doesn't make a lot of sense. This was Reimold's 2nd year at Bowie, not his third. And it's not like he had a bad line at Bowie in 2007 -- .306/.365/.565. If Snyder put up a line like that next year I'd be thrilled. The reason Reimold repeated Bowie was (1) because he only stayed healthy for 186 AB in 2007, and (2) to work on getting his strikeouts down. It's not like he was held back for poor performance.

To add onto this...Frederick was also a hitter's park, not a pitcher's park. Suppressed doubles slightly, but is a very homer friendly park.

Frederick Park Factor, 03 - 05 - .84 for 2b, 1.46 for HR

Frederick Park Factor, 06 - 08 - .97 for 2b, 1.28 for HR

Snyder's splits sort of bore that out:

Home - 214 ABs, .318/.352/.533/.885, 17 2b, 9 HRs

Away - 221 ABs, .312/.363/.448/.811, 16 2b, 4 HRs

Adjusted Numbers - .313/.356/.478/.834

I think the biggest question I have is if he will be given a shot at third base. I don't have him rated as highly as Reimold because of the positional difference and because he has less of a track record.

The plate discipline I can look past now because his BB% was a solid 9% in Delmarva.

[Big Mac]

Not until Snyder shows improvement in his defense. He appears to have alot to work on there. Guys that can hit but can't field well have a harder time making it to the majors. And DHs are not as valuable as position players especially if the DH has limited power.

How often have you seen Snyder play?

From what I've seen he seems to be more than competent defensively at 1st base.

I remember one of the Keys games I went to this year, Snyder went 2-4 with a double to RF and an opposite field HR that went out of the entire stadium. The two outs he made were lineouts. But what impressed me most that game was his defense, he scooped numerous throws in the dirt, showed good footwork around the bag, and it seemed he had mopre than adequate range at 1st. I remember coming home from that game and saying that was the most any one player had impressed me at a minor league game.

[Tony-OH]

Not until Snyder shows improvement in his defense. He appears to have alot to work on there. Guys that can hit but can't field well have a harder time making it to the majors. And DHs are not as valuable as position players especially if the DH has limited power.

I'm not sure where you've heard Snyder is bad at 1B. He can still improve, but he's already a decent defender over there and he's only played there two years now.

[thundercleetz]

Tony, is there any truth behind Snyder being given a shot at 3B this season, or is that speculation? How do his physical traits potentially project at third (arm, agility, footwork, etc.)? Does he have any experience at third?

Snyder's bat projects a lot better at third base than first if he can play at least decent defense. We do not have a legitimate third base prospect in Bowie, so why wouldn't Snyder at least be given a shot?

[Hank Scorpio]

Man, if only Snyder could handle 2nd base.

[Frobby]

I'm not sure where you've heard Snyder is bad at 1B. He can still improve, but he's already a decent defender over there and he's only played there two years now.

I'm not the one saying he's a bad defender at 1B, but it is worth noting that he made 12 errors there this year, which is a lot. The median among qualified 1B in MLB was 7, and that's in a lot more games than Snyder played. Obviously errors don't tell the whole story, but at 1B they are probably more telling than at some other positions.

As an aside, Ryan Howard made 19 errors and Prince Fielder had 17.