Royals Where are They Now? Kyle Snyder

The KC Royals top pick in 1999 (seventh overall) was right-handed pitcher Kyle Snyder. Though he won a World Series title in his career, it did not come with the Royals.

Following the 1999 Draft, Snyder pitched for rookie level Spokane and was named the top prospect in the Northwest League.

Unfortunately, injuries hampered his somewhat bright career. In 2000, he only pitched in two games before blowing out his right elbow in Wilmington. I was there that day and it was an ugly sight. You just knew it was bad. He missed all of 2001 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Snyder landed on the DL four times between 2003-2005, including the entire 2004 season due to surgery on his torn right labrum.

Snyder made his big league debut on May 1, 2003 with the Royals. He was cut loose after giving up nine runs on ten hits in June of 2006. Boston picked him up and he spent his first full season in the big leagues in 2007. That was when he won the World Series. He pitched in 46 games, one more than the previous three years combined.

After being granted free agency after the 2008 season, Snyder signed a minor league deal with the NY Mets in 2009. He spent the season with Triple-A Buffalo (3-8 with a 4.23 ERA in 33 games).

Snyder was back on the mound in 2011 with Newark in independent ball. He only threw 4.2 innings.

Snyder was hired in 2012 by the TB Rays as a pitching coach in their minor league system (though he never played for them during his playing career). He served that role with short season Hudson Valley in 2012 and Low-A Bowling Green in 2013. The HotRods had a Midwest League best 3.06 ERA (3.59 was second-best) and struck out 1057 batters compared to 440 walks in 1219 innings. The team also had a combined 1.22 WHIP, which was tops in the MWL.

*Just a little tidbit on Snyder’s time as a Blue Rock. He seemed to be pretty popular and had some of the Philly women’s soccer team (the Charge) come out to games to cheer him on. One of those was Olympian Heather Mitts, along with former North Carolina Tarheel Lorrie Fair (which is where Snyder went to college).