TORONTO – A trying season is essentially over for Toronto Blue Jays outfield prospect Travis Snider, who was diagnosed with tendonitis in his right wrist Thursday and prescribed four-to-six weeks of rest.
The 23-year-old first began experiencing pain last week while with the triple-A Las Vegas 51s, went 0-for-14 with seven strikeouts over three games trying to play through it, and sat out for a couple of games hoping rest would help matters before getting examined Tuesday.
Snider underwent an MRI on Wednesday and was re-evaluated Thursday, when for all intents and purposes he was shut down.
Without revealing the details of the diagnosis, he wrote on Twitter: “I will not break. I promise you that. I will miss you all, and can’t say how thankful I am for your support on this journey.”
Snider began the season with the Blue Jays but was demoted to Vegas late in April after batting just .184 with a homer, 12 RBIs and 23 strikeouts over 25 games. It was a surprising move given that the Blue Jays had said they were going to stick with him and let him play through his struggles.
While with the 51s, he made mechanical changes to shorten up his swing and once successfully implemented, he rejoined the Blue Jays on July 4 and came out hot, going 20-for-56 in his first 13 games with nine doubles, two homers and 17 RBIs.
But he slid into another funk afterwards, going 6-for-44 with 16 strikeouts over the next 11 games and found himself back in Vegas when the Blue Jays chose to stick with Eric Thames over him when Brett Lawrie was called up Aug. 4.
Snider was expected to be a September call up until the wrist flared up.
For the season, he hit .225 in with three homers and 30 RBIs in 49 games with the Blue Jays, and .327 with four homers and 42 RBIs in 61 games with Las Vegas.
