Blake Snell has figured out who he is
Blake Snell is no longer trying to find himself or figure out how to be something he's not. He's just the best pitcher in the rotation, even if he's inefficient.
I’m not going to pretend the Washington Nationals are a potent offense, especially without Juan Soto and Josh Bell, but I am still very impressed by Blake Snell’s performance against them yesterday and his performance for the last month or so.
Actually, in Snell’s last 7 starts, he’s 5-1 with an ERA of 2.11. Over that span, he has struck out 55 (!) in 38.1 innings and walked just 13.
I remember wondering during last year’s season how this guy managed to win a Cy Young Award, but it’s pretty obvious that he has the talent to dominate and that he can get hot for a while. Maybe even for a full season.
Or maybe Snell just needed the right pitching coach and to fully recover from his groin injury to get back to the guy the Padres thought they were trading for.
Either way, Snell might be the best pitcher going in the San Diego rotation these days, but he’s also the guy that you can least expect to go deep into games. Even yesterday’s outing, when he was basically dominant from the very first pitch, Snell crossed over a 100 pitches in just 6 innings of work. He admitted after the game that maybe he’s just meant to pitch 5 or 6 innings and will never be a guy who goes 7 or 8, a side effect of having stuff that’s so nasty that hitters can’t touch it to make quick outs.
Not everything is lining up perfectly for the Padres run towards the postseason, but many things are. One of those things is Blake Snell becoming a dominant pitcher again, just when they could probably use him the most.
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