Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw Blake Snell is on his way back to the team after missing the start of the season with shoulder discomfort.
For a pitcher, the shoulder is the most important area to keep healthy, as surgery for that part of the body can be a multi-year, complicated recovery — Gavin Stone being a clear example.
Thus, the Dodgers have been meaningfully careful with Snell, easing him back into the fold and slowly ramping him up.
He did not pitch during Spring Training — still throwing behind the scenes, including bullpen sessions, but the team did not rush him.
Snell continued to work in the background — facing hitters in live batting practice — and on Wednesday, he finally stepped on the mound for an official appearance in Single A.
While the Ontario Tower Buzzer faced off against San Jose, Snell tossed 32 pitches, 21 of which were strikes. He gave up three hits, a walk, and one earned run, plus another that came on a defensive error.
The plan for Snell was to pitch two innings, and while he did get to the second inning, he was pulled after all four batters reached. There were two errors that led to traffic and increased his pitch count, but Snell came away happy that he got back out and competed.
“It’s been a long time so I’m just ready to pitch,” Snell said. “That’s so much fun for me. I can’t wait for the next one.”
“I feel great. Just pitching again felt awesome. I was real happy with that. Stuff-wise, I’ll clean that up, get it better. The bottom of the mound I kept slipping, I don’t know why.
“That was tough for me. Overall I felt good, stuff was good, I like the confidence, the prep before the game, how I felt.”
As a former Cy Young award winner and a high-priced free agent, Snell has big expectations when he does take the mound, and the team will want him to be at his best when he does pitch.
“My goal is to dominate innings, try to use the least amount of pitches as possible so that will push the end, or I can go to the bullpen and throw,” Snell added.
“The first two will be a lot of patience and learning, figure out where I’m at. After that, that’s when I hit the gas pedal and really go.”
The Dodgers have more than enough pitching to cover for his time on the injured list. Now, if he were a hitter, Los Angeles may be pushing him to come back as soon as possible, with the offense struggling on the year as a whole thus far.