Craig Heist, wtop.com
BALTIMORE – Brandon Snyder couldn’t have written the script any better.
Snyder was the Orioles top draft pick back in 2005 and had spent his entire seven-year pro career with the Birds. He played in just 16 games for the big club before being traded to the Texas Rangers in January for cash considerations.
He made the club out of Spring Training and has appeared in 12 of the Rangers 29 games to date.
Manager Ron Washington gave Snyder the start at third base Monday night and the 25-year old from Chantilly, Virginia did not disappoint, going 3-for-5 with a three-run homer and a career high six-RBI in the Rangers 14-3 win over the O’s and the revenge factor for a club that seemingly gave up on him doesn’t factor into equation for him.
“I think I have been asked about that a couple of times now,” Snyder said. “The best answer is it’s about us going out there and playing a good team right now. They’re obviously doing really well right now and we’re doing really well so it’s more or less not a, guys that were Orioles are now Rangers and guys who were Rangers are now Orioles, it’s just about going out there and playing ball and trying to win the series.”
The Rangers are off to a good start in trying to accomplish that. Besides scoring 14 runs, they banged out 19 hits in a battle between the two best teams record-wise in the American League and Snyder was right in the middle of the offensive explosion.
“I wanted to give him a chance against that left-hander (Brian Matusz) and he did a good job for us,” said Washington. “We got a big two-out hit and we certainly needed that right there because we had had trouble with runners in scoring position lately but he got us on the board in a hurry.
“Then he came back and got us a three-run home run and he drove in another run for us so he had a good night tonight and I am happy for him but I am also happy for my team.”
Snyder graduated from Westfield High School in Centreville and was named the Player of the Year by the Washington Post in 2005.
Having a six RBI night with a home run is something that had not sunk in after the game, which was also attended by several family and friends.
“I’m probably going to have to wake up tomorrow and read something to make sure it happened,” Snyder said chuckling. “I’m sure my mom will tell me all about it when I get outside. It’s a special night being back in Baltimore but the biggest thing was to have my family there because they haven’t seen me since Spring Training, so it’s been awesome.”
Snyder is hitting .421 after his banner night with two homers and seven RBI. He hit his first Major League home run last Wednesday at Toronto off Ricky Romero.
Some thought the Orioles didn’t give him a long enough look after hitting .261 at Norfolk last year with 14 homers and 71 RBI in 114 games but that does not bother him as he looks back on his time with the organization.
“I feel like it was a big lesson learned for me,” he said. “It’s obviously something that has bugged me in the past but they were also the team that gave me the opportunity to come here and I look at that as a positive and now just something to build on.”
In this case, the Orioles loss is the Rangers gain.
Follow Craig and WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
