Padres News: Blake Snell Thinks He’s Pitching Best Baseball of Career
Blake Snell has been one of the top pitchers since entering the league with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016.
Snell won the AL Cy Young in his age-25 season when he tossed 180.2 innings with a 1.89 ERA.
However, this year, Snell feels the most confident about himself and his pitching.
Snell has pitched 174 innings this year with a 2.33 ERA and 227 strikeouts. The 30-year-old veteran is able to use his blazing fastball and pair it up with his vicious curveball that falls off the table.
“I would say, yeah, just because I understand myself so well,” Snell said when asked if this was his most dominant year. “Understand all my pitches, how to throw it, how I want to set up hitters, what I’ve previously done to hitters. So I’d say, yeah, it’s probably the most I’ve understood myself in my career.”
Snell is competing with Justin Steele for the NL Cy Young award but after Steele's last two shaky starts where he allowed 6 runs in back-to-back outings, Snell may have sprinted past him in the race.
Snell is leading the Majors in ERA and WHIP, at 2.33 and 1.20 respectively. He is also third with 227 strikeouts.
Snell has been the most dominant pitcher in the league this year and it is a shame that Padres fans will not be able to see him shut down playoff teams in October.
Snell is scheduled to become a free agent after this year and there seems to be mutual agreement between Snell and the Padres that they want to keep him in San Diego, but it will come with a hefty price tag as he will be the best pitcher available this year.
