Snelten is the 193rd former Northwoods League player to debut in MLB
(Rochester, Minn). – Former Rochester Honker D.J. Snelten, made his Major League debut for the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, April 28, 2018. Snelten is the 193rd former Northwoods League player to reach the Major League level.
Snelten, who played collegiately at the University of Minnesota, played for the Rochester Honkers in 2011 and 2012. He was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 9th round of the 2013 MLB Draft.
Snelten appeared in nine games for the Honkers in 2011, starting seven. He went 2-2 with a 4.46 ERA and had 47 strikeouts in 40.1 innings pitched. In 2012 he appeared in and started seven games and was 0-2 with a 3.52 ERA. He continued his impressive strikeout rate with 37 in 30.2 innings pitched.
Snelten started his Minor League career in 2013 with the Giants Rookie level team in the Arizona League. Over 14 games, Snelten was 3-1 with a 1.57 ERA. He also struck out 39 batters in 34.1 innings while walking 13.
Snelten split the 2014 season between two clubs. He began the year with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes of the Short-Season A Northwest League. After nine games he was promoted to the Augusta GreenJackets of the Lo-A South Atlantic League. For the season he appeared in 29 games and was 4-1 with a 2.56 ERA and had 44 strikeouts in 38.2 innings.
For the 2015 season Snelten once again split time between two teams. He began the year with Augusta and then was promoted after 15 games to the San Jose Giants of the Hi-A California League. Between the two teams he went a combined 5-11 with a 3.44 ERA. He also continued his high strikeout numbers with 126 in 120.1 innings pitched.
Snelten spent the entire 2016 season back in San Jose. For the year he appeared in 31 games while starting 13. He had a 4-7 record to go along with a 4.11 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 96.1 innings pitched.
In 2017 Snelten began the year in the AA Eastern League with the Richmond Flying Squirrels. After 15 games he moved up to the Sacramento River Cats of the AAA Pacific Coast League. Over 51 games in which he started all of them he won a career high eight games and had a 3.18 ERA. He also struck out 71 batters in 73.2 innings pitched while walking 23.
Prior to being called up by the Giants, Snelten had appeared in six games in Sacramento and was 1-1 with a 4.00 ERA.
In his Major League debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Snelten entered the game in the top of the eighth inning in relief of Sam Dyson. He would get Corey Seager to ground out and then he struck out Yasmani Grandal on five pitches before getting Cody Bellinger to fly out to left to end the inning. For the game he pitched 1.1 innings allowing one hit, one walk and striking out one.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
