Former Top 10 MiLB Prospect Lands with the Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles have been looking for a left-handed bat to solidify their lineup and they found it Tuesday night. The Orioles sent young lefty Stephen Tarpley to the Pittsburgh Pirates for slugger Travis Snider. Snider returns to the AL East after a two and a half year stint in the National League.

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Travis Snider was once the cream of the crop of minor league prospects. Heading into his 2009 rookie season, he was ranked in the Top 10 prospects in all of baseball by both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. Unfortunately for the Toronto Blue Jays, who invested the 14th overall pick in the 2006 draft on Snider, he never came close to those lofty expectations.

Snider was traded to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline of the 2012 season. He left Toronto having spent more time in the minors than fulfilling his destiny as the Blue Jays next great slugger. He slashed a dismal .246/.310/.406 in 242 games over five seasons. He did belt 14 home runs in 2010, but couldn’t hit consistently at the big league level.

It looked like more of the same from Snider once he got to Pittsburgh. His slash line was .215/.280/.333 in his first full season with the Pirates and the start of 2014 looked like more of the same. However, Snider seemingly clicked and the second half of the season represented what scouts once expected from him. He finished the season with a .288/.356/.524 second half, totaling nine homers over that span. Now at age 27, Snider heads to a stadium in Camden Yards built for left-handed power hitters.

Tarpley was the Orioles 14th-rated prospect according to MiLB.com. Drafted in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft by the Os, many felt he could have been a first round talent had he not transferred from USC to Scottsdale Community College due to some unidentified “off field issues”. OriolesHangout.com describes Tarpley as a power lefty with a three pitch arsenal. His fastball hits the mid-90s. He originally had a hard slider that he struggled with controlling, so he was told to remove it from his repertoire. He added a plus-curve and a sharp change-up, however he needs better control of his change-up and has been said to tip his breaking pitch every now and then.

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Tarpley had a delayed start to his debut season after a bout with mononucleosis, but had a solid full season in the Rookie level New York/Penn League for the Aberdeen Iron Birds. The 21-year old went 3-5 but posted solid peripherals. His 3.68 ERA and 8.2 strikeout per nine ratio were promising, as he also only allowed 0.5 home runs per game over 12 starts. He still does struggle with control, allowing 69 hits over 66 innings while walking 24 over the same span. The Pirates are in no rush for the young southpaw, so Tarpley has plenty of time to develop. He should take his talents to Class-A ball this season and see how he does at the next level.

The Orioles may have made out in a big way in this trade. Five of their Top 10 prospects in the system are pitchers, so to give up an arm outside of the Top 10 doesn’t seem like it will set them back. Furthermore, Snider should be able to compete for a starting outfield job immediately. Perhaps now is the time that Snider steps into and lives up to that top billing.