The Cubs made a low-risk move this week, signing right-handed reliever Collin Snider to a minor league deal – the kind of transaction that usually gets dismissed as “bargain bin” shopping. But dig a little deeper, and there’s more here than meets the eye. Snider isn’t just another arm; he’s a project – and one the Cubs’ pitching development staff seems eager to take on.

Snider, 30, is coming off a rough 2025 campaign with the Mariners, where things unraveled quickly. He posted a 5.47 ERA in just 26.1 innings, eventually getting sent down to Triple-A.

His velocity dipped, his strikeout rate fell, and hitters were squaring him up far too often – a 47.1% hard-hit rate tells that story pretty clearly. But while that stat line might not turn heads, this signing isn’t about what Snider was last season – it’s about what he might still become.

There’s a reason the Cubs are intrigued. Snider has been working with Tread Athletics – the same high-performance training group closely connected to Cubs pitching coordinator Tyler Zombro, who was recently promoted within the organization.

That connection matters. Zombro has been instrumental in helping pitchers unlock new levels, and Snider is no stranger to that process.

In fact, he already went through a transformation once before.

After struggling to find his footing in the big leagues with the Royals – where he logged a 5.93 ERA over 54.2 innings from 2022 to 2023 – Snider began training with Tread and reemerged in 2024 with a revamped approach. The Mariners picked him up off waivers just before spring training, and he pitched his way onto their Opening Day roster.

A knee injury in April slowed him down, but once healthy, Snider looked like a different pitcher. He returned in June and was lights out the rest of the way: a 1.94 ERA across 41.2 innings with a 27.8% strikeout rate.

That version of Snider had real bullpen value.

But 2025 was a step backward. The fastball velocity, which had averaged 95.9 mph in 2023 and 94.2 mph in 2024, dropped to 92.6 mph.

That’s a significant decline, and it showed in the results. Without that extra gear, Snider couldn’t miss bats at the same rate, and when hitters made contact, they made it count.

So now, he lands in Chicago with a fresh opportunity and a familiar development framework. The Cubs aren’t banking on Snider to be a bullpen staple in 2026 – not yet, anyway.

But they’ve had success before with similar fliers. Think Brad Keller, Mark Leiter Jr., Julian Merryweather – pitchers who weren’t front-page signings but carved out real roles after finding something that clicked.

That’s the upside here. If Snider can regain his velocity and recapture the form he showed in 2024, he could very well pitch his way into the Cubs’ bullpen mix.

If not, the team moves on without much lost. That’s the beauty of these kinds of deals – low cost, potentially high reward.

For now, Snider becomes the latest name added to the Cubs’ spring training watchlist. And if the pitch lab can work its magic again, this minor league signing might not stay under the radar for long.