Christopher Ryan Snyder...is a University of Houston alum...was drafted by the Mariners in the 43rd round of the First-Year Player Draft, but signed on to play for the Cougars...29 career home runs currently rank 3rd on University of Houston's all-time list...hit 13 homers and was named Cougars MVP in 2001 as a sophomore...in 2002, as a junior, hit .343 with a school-record 71 RBI and was named a finalist for the 2002 Johnny Bench Award (college baseball's top Division I catcher)...was a 2-time First-Team All Conference USA selection (2001, '02)...in Summer of 2001, played for U.S. National Team as part of World Cup, which was played in Taiwan...played with, among others Carlos Quentin, Rickie Weeks, Anthony Gwynn and Chad Cordero...tallied 9 RBI in 20 games as Team USA claimed the Silver Medal...graduated from Spring Woods (TX) High...was named First-Team All-Greater Houston and was voted the MVP of District 21-5A after hitting .493 with 6 doubles, 11 home runs and a District-leading 51 RBI in the regular season.
2013
Entered spring camp with the Nationals, signed a minor-league deal with the Angels, was dealt to the Orioles and eventually played in 9 games (6 starts) for BAL in only big league action of 2013...combined to hit .273 with 14 doubles, 13 home runs, 45 RBI and a .330 OBP in 73 Triple-A contests with Salt Lake (Pacific Coast League, 21 games) and Norfolk (International League, 52 games)...started 6 games during pair of stints with the Orioles...when starting behind the plate, BAL went 5-1.
2012
In lone season with the hometown Astros, was one of only 3 players to spend the entire season on the roster (Brian Bogusevic, Jose Altuve)...7 home runs were most blasted by an Astros catcher since Pudge Rodriguez hit 8 in 2009.
2011
Began season on the 15-day disabled list due to lower back stiffness...began rehab assignment with Class A Bradenton
on April 7...went 2x3 in first game and then homered and knocked in six runs in second game on April 8...hit .400 (8x20) with
eight RBI in six rehab games with Bradenton...was returned from rehab and reinstated from DL on April 13....went 3x5 with a
double and two RBI in second game with Pirates on April 16 at Cincinnati...hit .317 (13x41) with eight RBI in his first 13 games
with Pittsburgh thru May 2...hit first home run on May 2 at San Diego...was ejected by home plate umpire Chris Conroy on May
15 at Milwaukee for arguing balls and strikes...homered in back-to-back start on May 28 at Chicago and May 30 at New York...
injured his back swinging and sliding into second base on June 8 vs. Arizona and was placed on the 15-day disabled list on June
9...underwent surgery for a herniated disk on June 10 and missed remainder of the season...was also transferred to the 60-day
DL on June 10...made a total of 30 starts behind the plate for the Pirates.
2010
Hit .207 (66-for-319) with 15 home runs and 48 RBI in 105 combined games with Arizona and Pittsburgh...His 15 home
runs fell one shy of his career high of 16 hit with the Diamondbacks in 2008 and ranked fourth among N.L. catchers behind Brian McCann (20),
Rod Barajas (17) and Geovany Soto (17)...Was a member of Arizona's Opening Day roster for the sixth time in his career...Hit safely in four of
his first five games...Went deep for the first time on 4/11 vs. Pittsburgh while also recording a career high-tying five RBI (fourth time)...Hit safely
in a season-high seven straight games from 4/19-27...Homered in back-to-back games on 4/29-30 at Chicago...Started 23 of Arizona's 29
games in May...Homered in back-to-back games again on 5/30 at San Francisco and 5/31 at Los Angeles...Was charged with only error with Arizona
on 6/6 vs. Colorado; his first error since 8/20/07 - snapping a 240-game errorless streak (the streak was the third-longest in Major League history
behind Mike Redmond with 253 and Mike Matheny with 252 and second-longest in National League history)...Delivered a pinch-hit, walkoff
single on 7/21 vs. New York (NL)...Was acquired by Pittsburgh on 7/31...Tallied two RBI in his second start with the Pirates on 8/3 vs.
Cincinnati...Went 5-for-21 (.238) with a homer and five RBI in his first six starts with Pittsburgh, hitting first long ball on 8/7 vs. Colorado...Made
a total of 38 starts behind the plate with the Pirates and committed three errors (all fielding)...Also threw out five of the 17 runners attempting
to steal against him (29%) and had one passed ball with Pittsburgh.
2009
Played in 61 games while battling a back injury over the final 3 months...Appeared in 56 games (51 starts) at catcher and played first base once as a defensive replacement...Did not commit an error in 56 games behind the dish, extending his errorless streak to 197 games dating back to Aug. 20, 2007, the longest active streak among Major League backstops...Had a 4.58 catcher's ERA and nabbed 5 of 31 (16.1%) attempted basestealers...Hit safely in a career high-tying 9 games (.393, 11-for-28) from April 27-May 10...Reached base via a hit or walk in 14 straight road games from April 30-June 5, batting .311 (14-for-45) with 3 home runs and 14 RBI...Tied his career high with 3 walks on May 10 vs. Nationals...Tied his career high with 5 RBI on May 16 in Atlanta and hit his second career grand slam, off the Braves' Buddy Carlyle...Homered in 3 of 4 games from May 16-21, including back-to-back games, on May 20-21, for the fifth time in his career...Hit .300 (18-for-60) with .403 on-base and .583 slugging percentages in 20 games in May...Placed on disabled list on June 23 with a lower back strain...Activated from the disabled list on July 28 and appeared in only 12 games before being placed on the disabled list on Aug. 29 with lower back pain...Had season-ending back surgery on Sept. 23 performed by Dr. Chris Yeung in Phoenix.
2008
Set career highs in most offensive categories, including games played (115), at-bats (334),
runs (47), doubles (22), triples (1), home runs (16), RBI (64), walks (56) and strikeouts
(101)...His 16 homers tied for fourth-most among National League catchers and set a new
single-season high for catchers in D-backs history, surpassing Kelly Stinnett's 14 homers
in 1999...his 56 walks surpassed his own franchise-record for catchers, set in 2005 and
2007...Got off to a slow start after batting only .206 (13-for-63) in his first 22 games...then went
on a stretch and batted .351 (20-for-57) with 3 home runs, 6 doubles, a triple and 13 RBI
in 19 games from May 3-26 to see his season-average peak at .275...stretch also included
a career-best 9-game hitting streak from May 3-15 (. 438, 14-for-32)...Spent time on the disabled list for the first time in his career from July 1-20 with a left
testicular contusion after being struck by a foul ball off the bat of the Brewers' Corey
Hart on June 30 vs. Milwaukee...collected hits in 17 of his 24 starts after being reinstated
from the disabled list (.264, 19-for-72, 6 homers)...Had a season-high 3 hits on 2 occasions (April 13 vs. Colorado and Sept. 9 at San Francisco)...
also had season-best 4 RBI on Aug. 15 at Houston...tied a career-high with 3
walks on Aug. 4 vs. Pittsburgh.Homered in back-to-back games Aug. 14 at Colorado and Aug. 15 at Houston...was
third time in his career that he accomplished the feat and first since June 15 & 17, 2007
at Baltimore...Led all NL catchers with a 1.000 fielding percentage, not committing an error in 847 total
chances...has led the NL in fielding percentage the past 2 seasons (1 error in 1,629 total
chances, .999 %)...also threw out 22 of 71 runners (31%) attempting to steal and has now
thrown out 91 of 272 runners (34%) in his career.
2007
His 13 home runs tied for second on D-backs' single-season list for catchers with Damian Miller (2001)...his 40 walks also tied a franchise mark for catchers, tying his own mark from 2005...Hit his first home run of the season on April 10 against Cincinnati, a solo shot off Kyle Lohse in the fourth...Had 2 consecutive 3-hit games, May 20 at Pittsburgh and May 21 vs. Colorado...Was 3-for-4 with a 3-run double on May 20...Hit home runs in back-to-back games for the first time in his career with blasts on June 15 & 17 at Baltimore...In July, he led the team in batting .326 (14-for-43) with 2 homers and 6 RBI...Collected an RBI in 6 straight games from Aug. 1-9, with 10 total RBI over that stretch...Career-high 4 RBI on Aug. 8 vs. Pittsburgh, going 2-for-3 with a double and a home run...Committed an error Aug. 20 vs. Milwaukee, his first error since Sept. 5, 2006 at Florida, a span of 92 games...Strung together a career high 8-game hit streak from Sept. 11-22, batting .478 (11-for-23) with 3 doubles, 2 home runs and 10 RBI over that stretch...Also had a 7-game hit streak from Aug. 18-28...Was batting .206 on June 14, going on to hit .310 (40-for-129) from June 15-Aug. 28 and raise his average to .258...After the All-Star break, he hit .292 with 16 doubles, 6 home runs and 31 RBI, the highest second-half totals of his career...Threw out 18 of 60 stolen base attempts this season, his highest career total...Staff posted a 3.73 ERA (369 ER in 891.1 IP) when he was behind the plate, the fourth-lowest catcher ERA in the Majors...The team was 65-41 when he was behind the plate...Held a .998 fielding percentage over 106 games behind the plate this season...also appeared at first base and left field for the first time in his career.
2006
Snyder hit a career-high .277 (61 games) as a backup catcher. He also set career highs in RBIs (32) and tied a career high in home runs (six). Snyder saw more regular playing time the final month of the season. He is expected to receive the majority of the starts at catcher in 2007.
2005
Started the year splitting time at catcher with Koyie Hill before taking over the regular duties in mid-May. ... Hit his first pinch-hit homer on Aug. 14 in Atlanta. ... Had his second career two-homer game on July 31 in Wrigley Field. One of the homers was a grand slam, the first of his career.
2004
Snyder's rise through the organization's catching depth charts culminated in a season-ending stint with the big league
club...he got a taste of the majors as a non-roster invitee to spring camp but his development was better served with a season
at El Paso (AA)...he had a .341 average (28-for-82) while hitting safely in 18 of 21 games from May 8-June 5...he had
a 7-game streak from May 28-June 5 in which he batted .462 (12-for-26), featuring a 4-game binge where he went 9-for-15
(.600) with 9 RBI...he had a .388 average in June after hitting safely in 15 of 20 games with 9 multi-hit outings, earning the
organization's Player-of-the-Month award...included was another 9-for-15 stretch from June 10-15...Chris went 0-for-2 as
the backup catcher for the West Squad at the Texas League All-Star Game on June 21...he had a season-best 8-game hitting
streak from July 9-18, batting .433 (13-for-30) with 10 runs, 9 doubles, a homer and 6 RBI...he recorded 3 doubles on July
15 against Midland...he was honored as the Texas League Player of the Week for July 12-18 after batting .500 (10-for-20)
with 10 runs, 7 doubles, a homer and 6 RBI in 5 games...a disabling injury to newly-acquired catcher Koyie Hill led to the
purchase of Snyder from El Paso on August 18...Chris went 2-for-3 in his Major League debut on August 21 vs. Cincinnati,
lacing a single in his first at-bat in the second inning and adding a double in the fourth inning...he clubbed a 2-run homer,
his first big league blast, off of the Pirates' John Van Benschoten on August 23 in Pittsburgh...Snyder then hit 4 straight
against Dodger pitching, taking Odalis Perez deep on September 2 in Phoenix, followed by his first career 2-homer game on
September 8, each of which also came off of Perez...Chris then took Jose Lima deep the following night in Dodger
Stadium...behind the plate, he nabbed 6-of the last-12 attempted basestealers and 6-of-19 runners overall (32%)...while in
AA, Snyder paced the Diablos and ranked among Texas Leaguers with a .520 slugging percentage (2nd), a .389 on-base percentage
(5th), 31 doubles (T-6th), a .301 batting average (7th), 15 homers, 57 RBI and 46 walks...he compiled a .349 average
(60-for-172) in 47 home games at Cohen Stadium...he capped a stellar season in El Paso by being selected as the catcher
on the Texas League Post-Season All-Star Team.
2003
Split season between Single-A Lancaster and El Paso...Also played for Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League.
2002
Spent first professional season with Single-A Lancaster after being selected by the Diamondbacks in the second round of the First-Year
Player Draft...Hit safely in 11 of his first 15 professional games...Ranked sixth among California League backstops after throwing out 22 of 56
baserunners attempting to steal against him (39%).
