Christopher Ryan Snyder (born February 12, 1981) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

, and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

. He bats and throws right-handed.

High school and college

Snyder attended

Spring Woods High School Spring Woods High School is a public secondary school in Spring Branch, Houston, Spring Branch, Houston, Texas, United States. The school, serving grades 9 through 12, is operated by Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD). Spring Wood ...

and the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

. In , Snyder started every game and hit .316; he also led the team in

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

, doubles,

RBIs A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

total bases In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hit (baseball), hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single (baseball), single, 2 for a double (baseball), double, 3 for a triple (baseball), triple and 4 ...

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

, and

hit by pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provide ...

es. He was named All-Conference USA second team and also played for

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

hitting 1 home run and having 9 RBIs. In , he hit .348 with 15 home runs and 70 RBIs and was named to the All-Tournament Team in the Conference USA Tournament. Snyder had been drafted by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

in the

1999 Major League Baseball draft The 1999 Major League Baseball draft, was the annual choosing of high school and college baseball players, held on June 2 and 3, 1999. A total of 1,474 players were drafted over the course of 50 rounds. First round selections Supplemental fir ...

, but chose to attend college. He was drafted by the

in the 2nd round of the

2002 Major League Baseball draft The 2002 Major League Baseball draft, was held on June 4 and 5. It is featured in Michael Lewis (author), Michael Lewis' 2003 book ''Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Moneyball''. First round selections Supplemental first r ...

Career

Arizona Diamondbacks

Minor leagues

Snyder began his professional career with the High-A

Lancaster JetHawks The Lancaster JetHawks were a baseball team located in Lancaster, California. They were named for the city's association with the aerospace industry and played their home games at The Hangar. From 1996 to 2020, they were members of Minor League B ...

and hit .258 with 9 home runs and 44 RBIs. He began with Lancaster again and was promoted to Double-A

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

after hitting .314 with 10 home runs and 53 RBIs. He began with El Paso and hit .301 with 15 home runs and 57 RBIs and was promoted to the major league team.

Major leagues

Snyder was called up to the majors and made his debut on August 21, . In his first game, he went 2–3 with a double. In only 96

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

s in the majors in 2004, he hit 5 home runs. In , he was the starting catcher, but struggled offensively as he hit only .202. He was strong defensively though, with a

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

of .997. Before the season, the D-Backs traded for All-Star catcher

Johnny Estrada Johnny Pulado Estrada III (born June 27, 1976) is an American former professional baseball catcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers, and Washington ...

from the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

, making Snyder the backup. In 61 games, Snyder hit .277 with a .995 fielding percentage and threw out 45% of would-be base stealers. After the 2006 season, Estrada was traded to

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

and Snyder shared time behind the plate with rookie Miguel Montero. In , he hit .252 with a .999 fielding percentage and threw out 36% of would-be base stealers. In , he set career highs in home runs (16) and RBIs (64) and also had a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000. On December 30, 2008, Snyder and the D-Backs agreed on a three-year contract extension with an option for a fourth year. Before the 2010 season Snyder was almost traded to the Blue Jays for former Diamondback Lyle Overbay but the Jays questioned Snyder's back problems and nixed the trade.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On July 31, 2010, it was announced that Snyder and minor leaguer

Pedro Ciriaco Pedro Joel Ciriaco Leguisamon (born September 27, 1985) is a Dominican former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) primarily for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, ...

were traded to the

in exchange for D. J. Carrasco,

Ryan Church Ryan Matthew Church (born October 14, 1978) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. He played for the Montreal Expos / Washington Nationals, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Career Mi ...

and Bobby Crosby. He began the 2011 season with the Pirates' Single A affiliate, the

Bradenton Marauders The Bradenton Marauders are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Bradenton, Florida, and play their home games at LECOM Park, which also serves as the ...

, on a rehab assignment for back pains he experienced during spring training. In two games with Bradenton, Snyder had gone 5-for-6 with seven RBI, two doubles and a home run.

Houston Astros

On January 24, 2012, Snyder signed a one-year, $750,000 contract with the

. In 76 appearances for Houston, he batted .177/.295/.308 with seven home runs and 24 RBI. On October 31, the Astros declined Snyder's 2013 option, making him a free agent.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Snyder signed a minor league contract with the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

on February 5, 2013. The Nationals released him prior to the start of the season on March 18. On March 18, 2013, Snyder signed a minor league contract with the

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

that included an invitation to spring training. In 21 games for the Triple-A

Salt Lake Bees The Salt Lake Bees are a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team that plays in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. Based in South Jordan, Utah, the team plays its home games at The Ballpark at Am ...

, he slashed .342/.388/.684 with seven home runs and 21 RBI.

Baltimore Orioles

On April 28, 2013, Snyder was traded to the

in exchange for minor league pitcher

Rob Delaney Rob Delaney (born January 19, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and activist. He is best known for co-creating and starring as Rob Norris in the sitcom '' Catastrophe'' (2015–2019), and Peter Wisdom in the superhero films ''Deadp ...

. Snyder was designated for assignment by the Orioles on June 4, and sent outright to the Triple-A

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's loc ...

on June 8. On September 1, the Orioles selected Snyder's contract, adding him to their active roster. In 9 games for Baltimore, he went 2-for-20 (.100) with 1 RBI.

Texas Rangers

On December 21, 2013, Snyder signed a minor league contract with the

that included an invitation to spring training. He was released prior to the start of the season on March 24, 2014. Snyder signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers on March 25, 2014. In 7 games for the Triple-A

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home ...

, he went 5-for-21 (.238) with 2 RBI. Snyder retired from professional baseball on April 19.Backup catching option Chris Snyder retires

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Chris Living people 1981 births Arizona Diamondbacks players Pittsburgh Pirates players Houston Astros players Baltimore Orioles players Houston Cougars baseball players Bradenton Marauders players 21st-century American sportsmen Lancaster JetHawks players El Paso Diablos players Visalia Oaks players Reno Aces players Visalia Rawhide players Norfolk Tides players Salt Lake Bees players Round Rock Express players Major League Baseball catchers Baseball players from Houston