Prized offseason acquisition Blake Snell has been placed on the 15-day IL by the San Francisco Giants as the starting pitcher nurses a strained left adductor.
In 3 starts for the Giants in 2024, Snell has gone 0-3 with an 11.57 ERA and 1.97 WHIP, and has yet to make it through 5 innings. A shortened Spring Training as a result of prolonged free agency negotiations could have played a key role in those ugly numbers.
After reaching a 2 year, $62M deal with San Francisco on March 18th, the reigning NL Cy Young winner wasn’t able to appear in any official Spring Training games for the club. Instead, he pitched in a series of simulated games, before making his Giants debut on April 8th.
Since then, opponents have posted a .410 batting average on balls in play and 39.6% strand rate which were both unsustainable over the course of a full season. His 4.62 FIP and 3.95 SIERA suggest that his numbers would have come back down to earth eventually, however that correction will now be delayed until at least May as he recovers from his injury.
Snell is now the 4th Giants’ starting pitcher on the mend, joining Robbie Ray, Alex Cobb and Tristan Beck on the injured list. In a corresponding move, San Francisco has recalled RHP Landen Roupp from Triple-A Sacramento, and will turn the ball over to Ryan Walker who will make his first start of 2024 against the New York Mets on Wednesday.
Whether San Francisco looks to officially tab a 5th starter, or opts to patch that spot together with “bullpen” days remains to be seen. For his part Roupp has been acting primarily as a reliever in the minors this season, though he has starting experience.
“It would have to be a buildup,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We haven’t really talked about that yet. I don’t want to rule it out, but he certainly has not pitched enough to give us starter innings at this point.”
The Giants 7th ranked prospect, RHP Mason Black, is an intriguing option to fill Snell’s spot if he were to miss more than the 15 day minimum. The 24 year old is currently 1-1 with a 1.53 ERA and 20 K’s through 17.2IP with the River Cats in Triple-A ball.
Photo: Javier Branas. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.