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Provincial Bird Talk

The Making of a Mistake

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by
Foster
, 04-30-2011 at 01:35 PM (7481 Views)
"Is it because I shaved?"

99 plate appearances is all it takes now-a-days.

This past week saw the Jays send Travis Snider to AAA to work on his swing. A swing that has had 99 chances to show itself, sporting a line of .184/.276/.264. With such a small sample size, you would think the powers that be would give the young hitter a better chance to work it out on the big-league stage. Instead, he'll make his way to the Jays AAA team in Las Vegas.

What makes this move unbearable is that this was done to give Corey Patterson more time in the lineup.

This season was supposed to be a lost cause. I was comfortable with that. I wasn't expecting to have the Blue Jays be a contender this season, and many "experts" agreed. We were supposed to see these young players that the Jays have on the major league roster get time to show that they belong, and gain valuable experience. The experence gained in 99 chances at the plate doesn't translate to much.

In all likely hood Snider will show great signs of batting performance in his time in the PCL. He will be able to hit in a batters park in Vegas, and feast on the AAA pitching that hasn't mastered the hard breaking ball that Snider has had trouble with this year in the AL.

I'd even say that this time in AAA will amount to nothing more than a couple of weeks, he'll return to the Jays and I can only hope that he'll stay with the team, and gain the experience that 99 plate appearances can not provide.

Updated 05-06-2011 at 08:15 PM by Foster

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Major League Baseball , American League , Slant

Comments

  1. love_that_reefer's Avatar
    I think you are taking this 99 PA thing a little too far and a lot of Saberheads take the "small sample size" thing way too far. Snider has been apart of four seasons now for the Jays and in all four of them, he hasn't shown the ability to be patient at the plate. This is a huge problem and something that should be learned at AAA, not at the MLB level where MLB pitchers will punish him. Snider was around scouts and coaches the whole time so just because we as fans only get to see games, these scouts and coaches are there everyday watching practices and BP sessions. Snider needs to work on things and this season, he was hurting and not helping. He's 23 so he has a great chance of turning things around and by all means isn't a lost cause but there is denying he needs work.
  2. Foster's Avatar
    I know it has been only 4 games, a "small sample size", but...
    .615/.684/1.299, with 6 walks.

    Also, would you rather Dwayne Murphy as your hitting coach, or Chad Mottola?
  3. love_that_reefer's Avatar
    I would rather have John Olerud.