SARASOTA — The Tampa Bay Rays lost two of three to the Chicago Cubs during their recent visit to Wrigley Field.
The cell of Kyle Snyder did not fare any better.
The iPhone of the Rays’ pitching coach and former Riverview Ram star became an aye-yi-yiPhone. A piece of string and two tin cans might have fared better. A call to the Rays’ bullpen on it wouldn’t make it past first base.
“It’s given me trouble the last couple of months,” the 45-year-old said. “And I can’t afford that. Not in this day and age and the importance of communicating as often as we do, in the role we’re in.”
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Hometown boy makes good: Rays’ pitching coach Snyder off and running
Looking for the briefest possible reason why Snyder, in his sixth year with Tampa Bay, might be the creme de la creme among all MLB pitching coaches? The No. 7 overall pick in the 1999 draft “communicated” the answer.
With analytics having become a crucial piece of evaluating talent, all pitching coaches today must have a grasp of spin rate, BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play), GB% (Ground Ball Percentage), FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), and many more.
But not all pitching coaches can communicate these concepts to their hurlers with clarity. Not all can convince a pitcher who’s struggled most of his career to scrap what he’s been doing and try it this way.
That’s Snyder’s strength. And with players now who will turn a deaf ear to a coach demanding they try something new without tangible evidence, Snyder’s ability to articulate the whys and wherefores of a change is what separates him, perhaps from every one of his 29 MLB cohorts.
“I bring context to what I suggest,” Snyder said. “These measurables afford us to bring stuff to the player, rather than simply telling him to do stuff. The messaging becomes important.
“A track record helps, there’s no question that it does. I bring things to support what I message to these players that are powerful enough for them to be open-minded to change and to buy into some alterations.”
Snyder’s combination of knowledge, approach, and displaying a caring for his pitchers that extends beyond the mound, has proven a winning formula on his staff.
“The guy will go out of his way for you off the field and on the field,” said Ray left-hander Sean McClanahan, whose eight victories lead the majors. “And the off-the-field stuff, 100% translates. He’s truly looking out for me as a person, and I know that and I trust him, and he’s been able to build that personal relationship.”
Rays getting hitting and pitching
Snyder’s sixth season in Tampa Bay isn’t completely similar to his first five. As usual, he has his staff among the MLB’s top 10 with a 3.69 ERA. In Snyder’s first five years, the Rays finished in the league sixth, second, third, fourth, and fourth.
As much as former pitching coach Jim Hickey, along with manager Joe Madden, made pitching an annual strength with the Rays, Snyder has raised the bar, and he’s done it so far this season with starter Drew Rasmussen out since early May with an elbow flexor strain, starter Tyler Glasnow, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021, sidelined all season with an oblique strain, and lefty starter Jeffrey Springs, whose 16 of his 21 big-league victories have come in Tampa Bay, out indefinitely following Tommy John surgery.
What’s different this season is that Tampa Bay’s hitters have matched their pitchers. The Rays’ .267 team batting average is second in baseball, and the 340 runs they’ve scored trail only Texas’ 346. The result is a league-best 40-18 record and a four-game lead over second-place Baltimore Orioles.
Hitting, pitching, and what Snyder considers the best defense in the majors, all have put the Rays in early position to qualify for the postseason for the fifth straight year.
“It’s been a treat, man,” he said. “If you would have told me we would have won 40 games by June 1. . . I certainly would have taken it.”
Every year, it seems, Tampa Bay identifies a pitcher who struggled with his previous team, but finds new life under Snyder’s watchful eye. This season, that hurler is Zach Eflin, who signed to a 3-year, $40-million free agent contract with the Rays despite going 36-45 in seven previous seasons in Philadelphia.
What did the Rays like about the 29-year-old to offer him a contract with an $11 million base salary, highest on the team? They saw a pitcher who might blossom with the right message in his head and sure-handed defense behind him. The Rays rank fourth in MLB in errors with 22.
“We have elite defensemen,” Synder said, “so the balls that are being put in play, he’s getting victimized less on a team that has great defense like ours. And then we were confident in bringing him in.” After that, Snyder went about gathering evidence to show Eflin a few changes might open the door to success he had never experienced.
Snyder convinced him to rely less on his fastball, and more on his cutter. Eflin’s breaking ball was emphasized to a greater degree, and with a defense behind him which has not allowed an unearned run in his 10 starts, Eflin is 7-1 with a 3.30 ERA.
“I’m not risk averse to anything,” Snyder said. “I’m not afraid to fail by bringing something to a player. I’m OK with that if I have a reason enough to bring it to them, even if it doesn’t work, I’m OK with that.”
Doesn’t it work? Snyder must have meant his cell.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Kyle Snyder has Tampa Bay Ray pitching staff near top of MLB stats