Blake Snell became the latest pitcher to make his 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers Spring Training debut in a Cactus League game against the Seattle Mariners at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday.
The left-hander needed 30 pitches to work through a scoreless first inning. He got ahead with an 0-2 count against all four batters faced, but struggled to put each away.
Snell allowed a two-out single to Randy Arozarena, but stranded the runner to complete his outing before going to the bullpen for some extra work.
“Felt good,” Snell said after exiting the game. “Fastball was coming out good. That was really my main concern, to see how that plays, see where I’m at. I was looking at velo more than I thought I was going to, but yeah, happy where that’s at.
“Just land the offspeed. I think I’m finding I’m right where I need to be. So threw in the bullpen after to work on that, excited for the next one.”
While Snell was pleased with his fastball and is aware of how key that is, he noted his offspeed pitches are still a work in progress. “Yeah, fastball command is everything. If you don’t have that, it’s going to be very tough to pitch in this league,” Snell began.
“So to be able to throw fastballs in the zone as much as I did, I was working on landing the offspeed, that didn’t feel good. I was trying to correct that. So I’d get strike one with the heater and then try to work the offspeed. That was kind of my plan today.
“But overall, fastball I was really happy with. I’ve been happy with it all spring. So it’s more getting the slider going, landing the curveball. Changeup, I like where it’s at.”
Snell believes his fastball is ahead of where it was at this time last year, when he was still a free agent before eventually signing with the San Francisco Giants late in Spring Training.
“Yeah, I think the fastball is ahead of where I want it, honestly. Velo-wise, how it’s coming out. So I’m pretty, pretty happy with it,” Snell said.
“Ninety-six (mph) in spring, first game, and I just felt connected. I didn’t feel like I was trying to overthrow. I was really happy with where it’s at.”
Snell specifically said that his fastball velocity and release are ahead of schedule. “Release, just where I’m releasing it. The velocity that it has, the life it has, and then just reading hitters, they’re missing it,” he explained.
“I’m throwing the fastball over the plate. I wasn’t locating as much, more just trying to be over the plate, on the plate, and they weren’t doing much with it. So they kind of tell me that.”
Dave Roberts praises Blake Snell
Despite the high pitch count, manager Dave Roberts felt that Snell’s first start with the Dodgers was successful. “I thought Blake was fine,” Roberts said.
“Ideally the thought was to get him to do two innings today, but that Crawford at-bat at the outset got his pitch count up. And getting into the upper 20s, he felt good about the one inning, and no need to go back out there for a second.
“So, yeah, I just felt we came out of it good. The stuff was fine. And they just ran some high count at-bats.”
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