Blake Snell had by far his best start with the Giants Tuesday night. Snell tossed five shutout innings in the Giants series-opening matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays. He was making his first start after an injury rehab assessment.
Snell, the reigning NL Cy Young winner, signed a 2-year 62 million dollar contract with the Giants this past offseason. He has been in and out of the San Francisco rotation all season and has yet to find a rhythm. Snell had only started six games before Tuesday and had not yet recorded a solid start. Snell got a no-decision in the Giants walk-off 4-3 win in the bottom of the 9th.
It’s very promising for the Giants to have Snell perform like this. They spent a lot of money to have him be one of their top starting pitchers and it just hasn’t panned out thus far. Perhaps this is what Blake Snell needed to get the ball rolling in 2024.
Snell Has Best Outing Of 2024
2024 has not been friendly to Blake Snell. Going into his start vs Toronto, he was 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA. Blake Snell has bounced back and forth from the injured list all season long. This all stemmed from him getting a late start due to contract negotiations between him, his agent Scott Boras, and MLB teams. Not getting signed until late March didn’t allow him the opportunity to ramp up during spring training.
Blake Snell struck out three and only gave up one hit in his five shutout frames. Throughout his career, Snell has proven to have some of the filthiest stuff in his pitch arsenal. His biggest issue has been command. This has resulted in him constantly having high pitch counts and not going deep into games. The Giants will gladly take 5 solid innings from Snell every time.
For the Padres last season, Blake Snell had a 2.35 ERA and struck out a career-high 234 batters in 32 starts. If Snell can get rolling, there is no doubt he can produce these types of numbers again.
Giants Need to Bolster To Rotation
The Giants pitching staff has been ravaged with injuries. In addition to Blake Snell’s injury, the Giants have been hit with injuries to starting pitchers Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb. For a team that hasn’t been lighting it up at the plate, that is a recipe for disaster. The Giants currently have a record of 45-47 and are 2.5 games out of the final wild-card spot in the National League.
It is just about the halfway point of the MLB season, so there is a lot of time to make a playoff push. The next few weeks will tell the story of the 2024 Giants will be sellers or buyers at the trade deadline.
In baseball, all you need to do is get in the playoffs, then all bets are off. Everyone has a chance especially if you have a great pitching staff. For San Francisco, if they can get their starters healthy in time for a run for October baseball, they have a shot to snag one of those wild card positions.
About the Author
Cory is an Oregon Duck alumni from the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been playing, watching, and following basketball + baseball his whole life. He has recently been covering NBA, College Basketball, and MLB. Follow Cory on X @cory_pappas1 for more breaking stories and game previews.
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