SAN FRANCISCO — Blake Snell didn’t have a normal spring training.
He didn’t ease into action by throwing live batting practice against his new teammates in February. He didn’t make any trips to Mesa or Maryvale. He didn’t face major-league hitters in exhibition games that allow pitchers to experience at least some of the adrenaline of a big-league start with none of the consequences. Even reigning Cy Young Award winners can benefit from the confidence boost that comes from a tardy pass on a challenge fastball or a chase swing on a two-strike curveball in early March.
Nearly all exhibition games get messy in the late innings, devolving from entertainment to obligation. But they serve their purpose.
Snell signed his two-year, $62 million contract with the Giants on March 19, which left enough time for two appearances in minor-league camp games, followed by five simulated innings that the Giants staged for him on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. And finally, after taking up an active roster space for the first nine games of the season, Snell made his highly anticipated Giants debut in front of a home crowd Monday night against the Washington Nationals.
The game quickly devolved from entertainment to obligation.
Snell ran three-ball counts to the first six hitters he faced, he issued a pair of walks that both came around to score, he exhausted his 75-pitch limit in three innings, and he departed with the Giants trailing 3-1.
“At least he’s off and running,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said following the Giants’ 8-1 loss in front of an announced crowd of 25,582.
“Honestly it was just weird,” Snell said. “I was being more careful than I usually would. Usually, I’d just throw it over the plate and let it kind of eat. I was more like I haven’t faced big-league hitters. And I was amped up and really excited to pitch. So … bad combination, I guess.
“I’m excited where I’m at and how the ball is coming out. I’m only going to get better. It’s going to get more crisp. The first one, I’m happy to get it out of the way.”
“A lot to learn.”
Snell believes he was trying to “nit-pick” the zone too much in tonight’s start pic.twitter.com/lhvxSjeWW7
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 9, 2024
Snell’s abbreviated, over-amped start might have been the least concerning thing about a noncompetitive loss to a non-contender. Snell is bound to be better. There are no such assurances about a stagnant lineup that hasn’t hit a home run in four home games, hasn’t stolen a base all season and isn’t striking a lot of fear.
Jung Hoo Lee set the table with two hits and a walk but the rest of the kitchen failed to meet county health standards. The Giants were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position, which leaves them 1 for 27 after four games on the homestand. Thairo Estrada (.163 average, .415 OPS), Mike Yastrzemski (.050, .224) and Nick Ahmed (.219, .515) are having one rough at-bat after another and making it difficult to turn the lineup over. Their only hitter who qualifies as hot, Michael Conforto, received a day off to rest minor tightness in his side, and his absence was felt.
Hitting comes and goes. Yastrzemski and Estrada have been All-Star adjacent players in the not-too-distant past. A shakeup probably isn’t coming because 1) it’s still early and 2) it’s not like the Giants have plug-and-play alternatives. They do not have a hitting version of Snell — or Robbie Ray or Alex Cobb — to fold into their group. And it’s seldom ideal to call up a young player like Luis Matos or Marco Luciano when the big club is struggling. The big leagues are hard enough and pressure-packed enough as it is. You don’t want to put the onus on a 22-year-old to spark a seasoned and expensive roster.
“We’ve done some situational things right,” Melvin said. “But if we’re going to have big innings and score multiple runs in games when we’re down like this, we’ll have to get big hits. We haven’t done that yet.”
The Giants failed to create multiple baserunners in any inning after the first, when Lee singled and advanced on LaMonte Wade Jr.’s double before scoring on an error. Lee continues to make hard contact but is working to drive the ball to the gaps a little more often.
“He’s not just a ping-it-around, let-it-travel-deep type of swing,” Melvin said of Lee. “He’s hitting some grounders right now. He has some adjustments he has to make. But it doesn’t look like it affects him. He’s got a plan every time he’s up there.”
Snell didn’t get to pitch in an exhibition game, but by the end of his first start, it was like the Giants recreated one for him. The late innings dragged like the end of a split-squad affair at Scottsdale Stadium. The Giants had to cover the rest of the game with three rookie pitchers — Erik Miller, Landen Roupp, Kai-Wei Teng — who made their major-league debuts this season. Roupp had his perfect ERA rearranged in a three-run fifth inning while learning that even the prettiest curveballs get hit by big leaguers when you leave them over the plate. Teng worked the cleanest innings of the night but tired in his fourth frame, forcing Melvin to bring in former All-Star closer Taylor Rogers to get the last two low-leverage outs.
“Spring is all learning,” Snell said. “You can have a bad start and it doesn’t really matter. Where here, it really matters. When I go three innings and Teng has to cover four, that’s where I get more upset at myself because I put him in a bad position. That’s not fair to do to a young guy trying to make his way.”
The Giants knew that Snell wouldn’t go far on a 75-pitch limit but it was apparent from the start that they’d have to press most of their rookies into service. Snell’s first three pitches of the game were high fastballs out of the zone to leadoff hitter Jacob Young. He started the first two hitters in the second inning with 3-0 counts. None of the three singles he allowed were hard-hit and one of them was a bleeder on the infield, but the Nationals timed them well enough and created action on the basepaths (remember what that’s like?) while scoring their three-run rally.
Snell picked off Luis García Jr. with runners at the corners and the pitcher ended up covering first base when the rundown required an extra throw. As soon as Snell received the throw, Trey Lipscomb dashed away from third base. Snell’s throw was timely and accurate enough, especially for someone who missed all those exciting weeks of pitcher fielding practice in Scottsdale. But catcher Patrick Bailey missed the tag.
“I feel I gotta put that tag on him for sure,” said Bailey, who made a throwing error in the fourth inning. “I feel like I was caught off guard for some reason where I was at. When I caught it and went to reach for him and missed him.”
Catching Snell wasn’t the easiest assignment for Bailey, either. He’d only caught a couple of Snell’s bullpen sessions in the spring. He didn’t catch the simulated game at Dodger Stadium. Bailey has a few missed catches behind the plate already this season, which might be understandable given the priority he places on framing strikes. It’s hard to present pitches for the umpire when you’re still learning some of their shapes.
But Bailey said he felt comfortable while catching Snell for the first time.
“He’s got some adrenaline with a new club and the fastball was playing well, had some misses at the top early,” Bailey said. “I thought the shapes were good, the stuff was good, just count leverage stuff and a couple walks. When he stays competitive over the white, he gets really good results. That’s the key going forward. He knows that. He won the Cy Young Award doing it against us. I’m happy to be catching him and not hitting against him, for sure.”
There’s more than adrenaline behind those walks, though. The Giants knew that they would be part of the bargain. Snell led the major leagues with 99 walks last season for the San Diego Padres. He was only successful playing with matches because his stuff is so suffocating. Hitters had a league-low .180 average against him while striking out 234 times in 180 innings. But the experience of watching him pitch can be something less than aesthetically pleasing. Think peak Jonathan Sanchez except with a much better curveball.
Snell was confident that Monday’s start was just a jumping-off point.
“I think I’m built up,” Snell said. “I have to build up the consistency, get everything finishing out front. The curveball, I’m trying to make it do more than it needs to. It’ll all get cleaner and be a lot better. I’m looking forward to the next one.”
(Photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
