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Gentle BenHe's old (26). He has an OK body (6-2, 225). His stuff is OK. He's not a touted prospect. He's had marginal success in Double A and zero success (and limited exposure) in Triple A. Nobody knows who he really is.
Yet, Ben Snyder is still in big-league camp with the Texas Rangers. I wouldn't place big money on the guy making the team, but despite all those negatives, Snyder has one very important thing going for him:
He gets left-handed hitters out.
Yes, Snyder is a left-handed pitcher and that's exactly what the Rangers do not have and with Koji Uehara tossing up gopher balls a couple of times a game, it's a wide-open affair.
Now, Robbie Ross -- another lefty prospect -- may be in the driver's seat. He's had a stellar spring, a known quantity in the system and someone with a much higher potential. Then again, the Rangers might decide to keep him as a starter and send him back to Round Rock to get his regular starts.
Snyder has stuck around. He's had a very quiet Spring Training, which for a relief pitcher is a good thing:
5.1 IP - 1 hit - 0 runs - 0 BBs - 3 Ks.
Historically, Snyder's not been good against right-handed hitters. In fact, he started early in his career and once he was taken as a Rule 5 guy in 2009, Snyder was sent to the bullpen. He's been in Double A Frisco for most of his time with the Rangers aside from a swim in Oklahoma City, where he was hammered.
In and out of the bullpen, he's done one thing well and that's got lefties out. The last two seasons in Frisco, he's posted a 3.87 and 3.28 ERAs with a little less than a strikeout per frame and a 153:61 K/BB ratio.
Against lefties his numbers shine: 10.1 K/9 and 2 BB/9.
What's helping Snyder's shot at the bigs is Ross' uncertain, long-term future, Mike Kirkman and Koji Uehara's total inability to get outs and a definite need for a lefty reliever.
What's not helping is Snyder's limited exposure to upper-level bats, his improbable and utterly insane chance of making the team, and I don't think the Rangers are that desperate.
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