Just hours before he was set to start for the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, the team was forced to pull the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner.
Instead, the San Francisco Giants will start Ryan Walker against the New York Mets. The reason being that the Bay Area squad had to place one of their big-money signings of the off-season on the 15-day injured list.
Starter Blake Snell became the fourth San Francisco Giants starting pitcher to be placed on the IL less than a month into the season. Snell is dealing with a left adductor strain, an injury that could have him laid out for up to a month.
San Francisco Giants Have Four Starting Pitchers on the IL
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Snell joins starting pitchers Robbie Ray, Alex Cobb, and Tristan Beck in the San Francisco Giants’ IL. To take Snell’s place on the active roster, the team called up reliever Landen Roupp from Triple-A Sacramento. However, Roupp does not answer the San Francisco Giants’ need for starting pitching.
The team currently lists just four arms in its starting rotation, led by staff ace Logan Webb. Joining him are Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, and rookie Keaton Winn. Winn has pitched decently as of late after being shelled in his opening starts of the season.
As to who the San Francisco Giants may replace Snell with in the rotation, Daulton Jefferies is currently at Triple-A. He is on the team’s 40-man roster and did make a spot start earlier this season. However, in that previous start, he gave up nine earned runs in just two innings of work, so the team may look to give a different arm an opportunity.
Snell Very Shaky for San Francisco Giants This Year
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Snell faced a long free-agent ordeal over the offseason after earning the second Cy Young of his career in 2023. After posting a 14-9 record in his third season with the San Diego Padres to go with an MLB-best 2.25 ERA, teams did not seem eager to meet his contract demands.
At last, on March 19, he signed a two-year, $62 million contract with the San Francisco Giants. The deal included Snell’s right to opt out after the first season.
The word on Snell is that when he’s on, he’s on. However, when he’s off, he can be really off. In addition to leading the majors in ERA last season, he also led MLB with 99 walks.
His nine-year MLB career has played out like a roller coaster. In his first Cy Young season with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018, he was a dominant 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA. However, the next season, he went just 6-8 with a 4.29 ERA.
The adductor strain may explain some of Snell’s struggles this season, like when the Rays ripped him for six hits and seven earned runs in four innings of the San Francisco Giants 9-4 loss on April 14.
Snell was nearly as bad in his next start against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He went just 4-2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and five earned runs as his team was blown out 17-1 on April 19. Over three starts this season — all losses — Snell’s ERA sits at a lofty 11.57
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Tom Carothers is a sportswriter with more than 20 years of experience covering sports at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Still longing for the return of his Minnesota North Stars, he has a high pain tolerance as a big fan of the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Browns, and Tottenham Hotspur.
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