Snell happy with velocity after tossing scoreless inning in his spring training debut with Dodgers

Audio By Carbonatix

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell pitched a scoreless inning in his spring training debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.

Snell, who agreed to a $182 million, five-year deal with the Dodgers in November, threw 20 of 30 pitches for strikes. Snell got J.P. Crawford to ground out to start the game, fanned Seattle star Julio Rodríguez, gave up a two-out single to Randy Arozarena and induced a groundout by Mitch Garver to finish the inning.

The left-handed Snell's fastball regularly touched 96 mph, a welcome sign in February.

“I was looking at velo(city) more than I thought I was going to," Snell said. “But yeah, really happy where that's at.”

The 32-year-old went 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA last season with San Francisco, striking out 145 batters in 104 innings.

“Fastball command is everything,” Snell said. "If you don’t have that, it’s going to be very touch to pitch in this league.”

The eight-year veteran then went to the bullpen after his inning to tinker with his offspeed pitches. Snell won Cy Young Awards in 2018 with Tampa Bay and 2023 with San Diego. He is 76-58 with a 3.19 ERA in nine seasons with the Rays (2016-20), Padres (2021-23) and Giants.

Snell joins a rotation projected to include Yoshinobu Yamamoto and 23-year-old rookie Roki Sasaki, who gave up a homer to Chicago White Sox prospect Kyle Teel in a simulated game on Tuesday. Two-way star Shohei Ohtani, recovering from elbow surgery, is expected to join the rotation at some point after opening day.

“It was the first time I got to pitch in a Dodger uniform,” Snell said. “Definitely excited about that.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb