The captain of the Alabama baseball team, left fielder Kade Snell, once competed against the Crimson Tide for the Auburn Tigers.
Snell, who is from Dothan, Alabama, attended Wicksburg High School. He graduated in 2020 and was ranked as the No. 3 left-handed pitcher and the No. 32 overall prospect out of Alabama in the 2020 class, according to Perfect Game.
Growing up, Snell was an Auburn fan. He started his collegiate career there, but the Tigers cut him due to injuries and a lack of opportunities to play during his freshman year.
“I’m not going to lie to you, after I got cut, the first place I wanted to go was Alabama,” Snell said, “You have to grow in moments like that and understand it is a business. I wasn’t supposed to take it personally, but I did take it personally, and I think it made me better as a player and a human.”
Snell had a different path in college baseball than most. After being cut from Auburn, he went to Wallace Community College in his hometown of Dothan for two years. He broke out in 2023 when he was named NJCAA Division I National Player of the Year and earned first-team All-American honors.
In 2023, Snell finished with a perfect 10-0 record, a 1.86 ERA, and a .96 WHIP, striking out 87 batters across 77.1 innings pitched. At the plate, he hit .396 with 12 doubles, three triples, 13 home runs, 70 RBIs, 30 walks, a perfect 10/10 in stolen base attempts, and a 1.160 OPS.
“I wanted to stay in the SEC, but I also wanted to get on the other side of things and do my thing for the Tide instead of the Tigers,” he said. “I’m glad I was given the opportunity to come back and play in the SEC and prove myself. I give a lot of credit to Wallace Dothan, because they got me where I needed to be and showed me the player I wanted to be and could be.”
Snell was always a two-way player, meaning he both hit and pitched. That is, until this season, when he decided to end his pitching career and focus on hitting.
“I dealt with some injuries last year on the mound, and the biggest thing was I didn’t want that to affect my hitting,” Snell said. “But if we are in a regional, super regional, or even the CWS and we’re short on pitchers, you best believe I’ll be grabbing my 11 ¾ size glove and will go up there on the mound and give you everything I got.”
Snell had a very solid first season for the Crimson Tide. He hit .324 with nine doubles, six home runs, 30 RBIs, 15 walk and a .896 OPS. On the mound, across 10 games and six starts, he went 1-0, pitching to a 6.08 ERA, a 1.43 WHIP and 23 strikeouts in 23.2 innings pitched.
Before the 2025 season, Snell was voted by his teammates to be captain of the Alabama baseball team. He was given the number 3, the number all captains wear for the team, which is a tradition head coach Rob Vaughn started last year in his first year in Tuscaloosa.
“It means the world to me that these guys think so highly of me in that regard,” Snell said. I’m glad they chose me for this role, as it says they look up to me and trust me to lead by example.”
