If you’re not a Mariners fan, you maybe haven’t noticed how good of a season Collin Snider is having. While most of the attention — at least pitching-wise — has gone to Seattle’s stellar starting rotation, the 28-year-old right-hander has quietly logged a 1.01 ERA and a 2.07 FIP over 27 relief appearances comprising 26 2/3 innings. Moreover, he has fanned 30 batters while issuing just six free passes and allowing 22 hits, only one of which has left the yard.
Snider was cut loose twice over the offseason, first by the Kansas City Royals, with whom he’d spent parts of two mostly nondescript seasons, and then by the Arizona Diamondbacks, who had claimed him off waivers. The Mariners signed him off the scrap heap in early February, and they’re certainly glad they did. The sample size is admittedly small — again, he’s made just 27 appearances — but the results have nonetheless been noteworthy. To little fanfare, Snider has been superb.
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David Laurila: You’ve obviously taken a huge step forward this year. Did changing organizations play a role in that?
Collin Snider: “I think changing orgs had a big role in it. I had a meeting in spring training with the pitching staff here, and they showed me the difference in my numbers pitching ahead in the count and pitching behind in the count. There was a substantial difference in good results versus bad results. From that point on it was more of just, ‘Get your stuff over the plate early and often.’ My stuff plays well enough that I didn’t have to really try to do anything else after that.”
Laurila: Getting ahead in the count is part of Pitching 101. Was that the first time the message had really been drilled into you?
Snider: “Yeah, and it’s very simple. Just having it laid out in a PowerPoint presentation, in my face, was very eye opening. It was basically, ‘Don’t overthink things. Your stuff is really good, but it doesn’t matter how good it is if it’s not a strike.’ So, getting it over the plate was step one, which I think I’ve done a good job of. From there it kind of turned into pitch usage and maybe adding different elements of pitches, when to take shots and stuff like that.”
Laurila: It looks like you’re throwing fewer two-seamers this year.
Snider: “Correct. I’m not throwing a whole lot of sinkers. I’m throwing a lot more four-seams. That’s where the VAA — the approach angle — came into play. I was familiar with it, but didn’t really know how to use it, I guess. Then it was kind of, ‘Hey, try this and let’s just see what happens.’ I started throwing four-seams up in the strike zone, was having success with it, and kind of ran with it.”
Laurila: Are the metrics on your four-seamer pretty good, or is it mostly the vertical approach angle that makes it play as well as it does?
Snider: “It’s unique, I would say. I’m not like a high vert guy, but the approach angle is unique. So, it’s a unique four-seam fastball because it kind of hovers on the zero line for horizontal. It could be anywhere from +3 to even -3 at times. It’s almost like… I call it a cutter plus. And then my release side is a little unique, so…”
Laurila: What do you mean by release side?
Snider: “My side release. I’m kind of a low three-quarters, sidearm, from the third base side of the rubber. For right-handed hitters the ball is coming out kind of at them, versus me being first base side and giving them a wider tunnel to see it.
“In the latter half of last season, I scooted over to the third base side to create a different angle with my sweeper. Little did I know that it would help with the four-seam fastball this year, too.”
Laurila: I assume throwing fewer two-seamers is because it isn’t as good of a pitch as your four-seamer?
Snider: “Yes. I’m also not getting as much armside — not as much horizontal — on my two-seam this year as I have in the past. I don’t know why. But that’s OK, because I’m getting a lot on my sweeper. Then I have the four-seam and a cutter, so there is a lot of separation even though the numbers might not be big horizontal numbers.”
Laurila: When I looked at your fastball velocity earlier today, I saw that it is smack dab at the 50th percentile. Has that pretty much always been the case?
Snider: “I’ve actually thrown harder in the past. It’s kind of, honestly, me not trying to do too much. I’m out there at a pretty high effort level, I’m just not out there overthrowing like I’ve done in the past. Instead of trying to create more stuff, I’m just attacking hitters.”
Laurila: Is the four-seamer your best pitch?
Snider: “I think my sweeper is, but the four is starting to catch up to it.”
Laurila: What’s the story behind your sweeper?
Snider: “I tried to learn it going into last season, but I developed some really bad habits with it. I was dropping my arm and trying to throw sideways. I got very rotational, which affected my other pitches, affected my command. In the latter half of last year, with a little bit of an overhaul, I learned how to spin it the right way. Using my natural slot, my natural way of throwing, I learned how to get it in there consistently.”
Laurila: How many inches of horizontal are you getting with it?
Snider: “On average, it’s probably 15. Some days, it’s 14 or 17. It kind of just depends on counts. On two strikes, if I rip one a little bit harder, I can get 17 or 18.”
Laurila: Is the cutter also a newer pitch for you?
Snider: “It is. Again, latter half of last year. That was a big weapon I needed for left-handed hitters. My cutter ranges from like -3 to -5 gloveside. Lately, I’m even taking some shots with it to a righty, again creating a different angle.”
Laurila: It sounds like much of your growth as a pitcher came last year with Kansas City.
Snider: “I would say that pitch development happened toward the end of last year, but the mindset of really being able to implement it has been this year.”
Laurila: Was there anyone in KC who was especially important to your growth as a pitcher?
Snider: “Zach Bove, their assistant pitching coach last year. It was his first year there. He came in with Brian Sweeney and the whole new coaching staff. He’s the one that helped me find the cutter grip. I also owe a lot to Tyler Zombro. I was working with Tread this past offseason, and he’s a guy I was bouncing ideas off of a lot. It was kind of, ‘Hey, this pitch is doing this. What do you think?’ We were sending videos back and forth. I was going to Charlotte and throwing with him.”
Laurila: You got DFA’d in the offseason…
Snider: “Twice actually.”
Laurila: Did that come as a shock?
Snider: “It did, because I thought I ended the season well with Kansas City. I got opportunities to throw in some [higher]-leverage spots. From what I spoke with them about, I thought I was going to be back there.”
Laurila: I assume the second DFA was just as surprising, because the Diamondbacks obviously saw something they liked when they claimed you off waivers in mid-December. You were there long enough to have had offseason conversations with them.
Snider: “Yes. I think I had two conversations with Brent Strom. We had some phone calls about what I was working on at the time. Nothing really tangible. I guess I was just bottom of the list when they were signing free agents. But everything happens for a reason, and I think I landed in the best spot possible. Things are working out pretty well here with Seattle.”
