RADIO
Blake Snell 2019 Outlook: Southpaw Set For Another Award-Winning Season
6 years agoTampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Blake Snell stands at six-foot-four on the mound and is coming off of a beautiful 2018 that saw him add an American League Cy Young trophy to his shelf. The southpaw posted an absurd 1.89 ERA and 0.97 WHIP with 221 strikeouts in 180 ⅔ innings, though it was the 21 victories that put his case over the top. He leaned on his curveball much more, doubling its usage to 20% (mostly at the expense of his slider) and inducing a whiff with it 25% of the time. He’s always boasted bat-missing stuff but the 12.7% and 10.8% walk rates from years one and two held him back, whereas the 9.1% mark from ‘18 proved enough to put him over the top. Well, that and his lowly .241 BABIP (second to Julio Teheran (.217), among qualified SPs) and 88% strand rate (Justin Verlander was second at 85.3%)! This explains the mortal 3.16 xFIP and 3.30 SIERA underneath the Olympian 1.89 ERA, though the 15.1% swinging-strike rate was tied with Jacob deGrom for fourth-best in the bigs and validates the K’s. Don’t count on 17-plus wins or an ERA below 3.00 in the AL East again, but topping 200 K’s as a top-10 starter per our ranks and an ADP of 27 is reasonable while a Cy Young-winning campaign is clearly possible.
