Royals pitcher had big family contingent in KC for first win — and one good dog, too

A week ago Monday, the Royals were playing one of their final spring-training games, facing the Reds in Goodyear, Arizona.

With two outs in the seventh inning, Cincinnati had a runner on second when Royals manager Mike Matheny summoned right-hander Collin Snider to end the inning.

Snider did just that, retiring the only batter he faced. After entering the Royals dugout, Snider grabbed some water and took a seat. Soon after, Matheny sidled up next to Snider.

“How do you think you performed this spring?” Matheny asked.

Snider, who was added to the Royals’ 40-man roster in November, thought he’d done enough to break camp with the Royals after allowing one run in 6 2/3 innings. But these matters are out of a player’s hands, so Snider wasn’t sure what the Royals believed.

Turns out Snider’s instinct was correct. He just didn’t expect to find out during a game.

“We chatted for just a second and that’s when he told me, he’s like, ‘Congratulations, you made the team and you’ll be with us for opening day’ and he shook my hand and went back to his spot on the rail,” Snider recalled Saturday in the Royals clubhouse. “I just sat there smiling ear to ear. It was pretty cool. Very unexpected too, just coming out of the game.”

After the Royals batted in the top of the eighth inning, Snider hustled to the clubhouse to call his wife, Rachel, with the big news.

“She freaked out,” Snider said with a grin. “It was a cool moment to have with her.”

‘You gotta bring him’

Snider, 26, grew up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and later attended Vanderbilt, and his family made the trip from the Volunteer State to Kansas City last week to see him.

On Saturday, 11 family members were at Kauffman Stadium for the game against the Cleveland Guardians. In the clubhouse, Snider talked about his lifelong dream of being a big-leaguer coming true.

“It’s hard to put into words. It’s super exciting,” he said. “I’m very thankful though, in 2020, we had a COVID fall camp here. So I’ve been in this locker room, I’ve thrown in that stadium. And granted it’s way different with people in the seats and stuff like that. So just having a little bit of comfort coming in with that experience helps.

“But this is just kind of like beyond expectations. Like how the major leaguers are treated. It’s beyond what I thought it was gonna be.”

Snider was thrilled that a 12th member of the family also was in town, even though he wasn’t allowed into the K. Snider’s wife brought Jax, the couple’s 2-year-old Golden Retriever, to Kansas City.

“My wife drove him down here, eight hours. I was like, ‘You gotta bring him with you,’” Snider said.

“He’s our kid right now. He’s the best. When you go back to the apartment you have someone who’s so excited to see you and like, dogs are just the best. They are the absolute best.”

While Jax likely was dozing on Saturday afternoon, the rest of Snider’s family was at Kauffman Stadium and saw his MLB debut. Snider same on in the 10th inning of a scoreless game and work out of a jam (teams start with a runner on second base in extra innings), keeping the Guardians off the board.

Snider picked up his first big-league strike out, setting down Cleveland’s Yu Chang, and stranding two runners to end the top of the 10th. In the bottom of the inning, Adalberto Mondesi’s single scored Kyle Isbel and made a winner out of Snider in his first game.

“It couldn’t have worked out to be better,” Snider told Bally Sports Kansas City’s Joel Goldberg after being the recipient of a Salvy Splash. “I’m very thankful for all of them up there. They’ve been with me through a long journey so I’m very grateful they’re here.”