Snell has been dealing with discomfort in his left throwing shoulder since last season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will begin their defense of back-to-back World Series titles on March 26, but they will likely do so without the services of starting pitcher Blake Snell.
The left-hander has been dealing with discomfort in his throwing shoulder, an issue that saw him miss four months of action last season. Snell's offseason workouts were affected, putting him behind as the Dodgers opened camp earlier this month.
On Saturday, manager Dave Roberts gave the verdict on Snell's availability for Opening Day and beyond.
"He’s not on a mound right now. He’s not in games," Roberts said, via MLB.com. "The odds of him starting the season are probably zero. For him, he needs to do his work to get back on the field.”
Roberts added that it's unlikely Snell will see a mound soon. The plan is to build him up from 120 feet to 180 feet before getting on a mound. "
"When that is, I don’t see it in the next week for sure," Roberts said. "So then I think we’ll just kind of see where we go from there."
Two weeks before pitchers and catchers began to meet, Snell said at a Dodgers charity event that while he wanted to pick up his offseason workouts, he needed to take his time and focus on getting fully healthy.
“I feel like I’m doing the right thing. I feel good. I’ve been throwing. It feels better," Snell said. "In the postseason, I gave everything I had for that. But on the front end of spring, I’ll have to be patient and let my body get to 100%."
The Dodgers are in lock-step with Snell's approach, telling the 33-year-old to get his arm ready before coming back to pitch regular-season innings.
Snell added that his shoulder "never felt great" after signing a five-year, $182 million contract last offseason. He said that in wanting to live up to his contract, he pushed a little too much to get ready and this season he planned to go slower before ramping up.
In 11 regular season starts in 2025 Snell went 5-4 with a 2.35 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and 72 strikeouts in 61.1 innings. He made six postseason appearances and recorded 41 strikeouts and a 3.18 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 34 innings.
The Dodgers have depth on their pitching staff with World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani. But Ohtani will need time to get to 100% after taking part in the upcoming World Baseball Classic and the likes of Roki Sasaki, River Ryan, Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski, and Gavin Stone will be competing for spots.
Category: General Sports
