Former major league outfielder Travis Snider announced his retirement on Instagram Thursday morning.
A first-round pick of the Blue Jays in the 2006 draft, the left-handed-hitting Snider quickly emerged as one of the sport’s more promising prospects. Baseball America ranked him among the league’s top 100 farmhands over each of his first three full pro seasons. That included a No. 6 overall ranking heading into the 2009 campaign, not long after Snider made his big league debut at age 20 late in the prior season.
Snider spent the next three-plus seasons in Toronto. He never emerged as the middle-of-the-order slugger evaluators and the Jays’ fan base hoped he’d become, but he hit around a league average level over his first few seasons. Snider struggled in 2011, though, and the Jays traded him to the Pirates for Brad Lincoln at the following deadline. He spent the next couple years as a platoon outfielder in Pittsburgh, posting a career-best .264/.338/.438 showing over 359 plate appearances in 2014.
The following offseason, the Bucs traded Snider to the Orioles for Steven Brault and Stephen Tarpley. He didn’t perform well in Baltimore and wound up released in August. Snider hooked back on with Pittsburgh late in the season but was outrighted off the Bucs’ roster after appearing in 18 games.
That ultimately proved to be the final big league run for the Washington native. Snider hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2015. He’s hung around the periphery of the majors as a high-priority depth option, logging Triple-A time with the Royals, Mets, Rangers, Diamondbacks and Braves over the past half-decade.
All told, Snider departs having appeared in eight big league seasons and suiting up in 630 games. Across 1,971 plate appearances, he hit .244/.311/.399 (93 wRC+) with 54 homers, 100 doubles and seven triples. Snider never blossomed into a star or even as a true everyday player, but he played in the bigs every year between 2008-15 and ultimately spent a decade and a half in affiliated ball. MLBTR congratulates Snider on his career and wishes him all the best in his post-playing days.
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