Changeup giving Snodgress new tool on the mound

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Already the owner of a worthy curveball and a Major League fastball that touches the mid-90s, White Sox pitching prospect Scott Snodgress believes he made significant progress over the winter with his third pitch, a changeup he figures could make him much more dangerous on the mound in 2014.

"It's going to be a big pitch for me this year, I think it might even be a strikeout pitch," Snodgress said. "I worked on it a ton, and I feel like I'm throwing it with a lot better arm speed. I've been talking to some of the hitters who have seen me throw it and they've said how good it looks, too. I'm excited about it."

Ranked the No. 12 prospect in the organization's system last year by MLB.com, Snodgress spent the entire 2013 season with Double-A Birmingham, finishing 11-11 in 26 starts with a 4.70 ERA over 143 2/3 innings. The southpaw, a fifth-round pick out of Stanford in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, saw his strikeout rate drop from 8.2 per nine innings in 2012 to 5.6 last year, so an improved changeup might bring that number back up.

Snodgress worked two innings in the intrasquad game on Tuesday, and although he surrendered a homer, he punched out three batters.

Standing 6-foot-6, it has taken Snodgress a while to get fully comfortable with his mechanics, but as he has worked to duplicate his motion over and over again, his command of not only his changeup, but his other two pitches as well, has increased dramatically.

"The biggest thing is just being consistent with your delivery," he said. "Once you can repeat that every time, you hit your spots more often than not. I'm at the point right now where I feel pretty confident with what I'm doing mechanically."

In his second big league camp, Snodgress is on the outside looking in as far as 25-man roster spots go, but he isn't worrying about that at all. He's too excited about his progress and looking forward to seeing some action in Cactus League games.

"I'm not getting ahead of myself," Snodgress said. "My goals are daily. I think things are coming together really nice, so I'm just trying to keep that moving."