Forrest Snow: More Than Just a Cool Name

Entering 2011, Mariners pitching prospect Forrest Snow was hardly on the radar, other than the fact that he had been a #1 seed in MiLB.com’s annual ‘Minors Moniker Madness.’  He had a heck of a pro debut in 2010, allowing just 17 hits in 45 1/3 innings, with a 0.60 ERA and 52/16 K/BB ratio, but he was a 36th-round pick who was used in relief at the lower levels, so he drew little buzz.

A year later, though, Snow has blown through every level of the minor leagues and the Arizona Fall League, working mostly as a starter. Yet he still doesn’t show up much on Mariners prospect lists. What exactly does he bring to the table?

It’s easy to see that 36th round draft tag and assume we’re talking about a small finesse righthander here, but that’s not at all in line with reality. Snow is actually a tall righthander at 6’6″ and around 200 pounds, and he still has some room to fill out his frame. Unlike many pitchers of that size, he employs a simple, repeatable motion. He has a slight hip turn in his delivery, and earlier in his career, the backside of his motion was somewhat exaggerated, but he has since simplified it.

He does tend to over-rotate and fly open slightly at the end of his delivery, which causes him to occasionally miss to the arm side, and particularly makes his breaking pitch sometimes lose bite; this tendency also gives him a harder landing than one would like.

As a starting pitcher, Snow works at 91-93 mph with his fastball, which features vicious tailing life in on righthanders and can snap bats. He also throws an 82-85 mph splitter that is effective to lefthanders, and his 77-80 mph slurvy breaking ball is just fringe-average but plays up because he can spot it to both sides of the plate.

If Brooks Baseball’s Pitch F/X tool is to be believed, Snow reaches yet another gear in relief, with his fastball working at 94-96 mph. It makes sense, then, that he’s been especially dominant in relief in his career. Given that he has little in the way of a platoon split thanks to his splitter, it’s not hard to see him as a potential closer (And seriously, as 80-grade of a name as “Forrest Snow” is, it’s even more awesome as a closer, just like Josh Outman would be). He has the frame and three-pitch arsenal to start, as well, although one has to wonder where he’ll fit in a rotation that may soon boast Felix Hernandez, Danny Hultzen, and James Paxton while also needing to find room for guys like Charlie Furbush, Jason Vargas, Erasmo Ramirez, Brandon Maurer, Blake Beavan, and Hector Noesi. Then again, as a pitcher with 35 1/3 innings of Triple-A under his belt, perhaps he can beat Ramirez, Hultzen, and Paxton to the punch, though he still has the others to fight off.

My guess is that Snow slides into a late-game relief role for Seattle, and given his size, deception, command, velocity, and secondary stuff, there’s no reason to believe he can’t be successful in that role as soon as 2012, especially with Safeco Field backing him.

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