Blake

Snell

Snell has been outstanding since returning from the injured list, and has given up a total of two runs over those 17 innings with a K/BB of 18/7 in that timeframe. The left-hander whiffed six in this one, and generated a solid 17 swings and misses over 94 pitches — 62 of those for strikes. He’ll have a good chance to keep the good run going against the Tigers next weekend.

It’s the same line he had in his return from the IL last week against the Royals. Snell got into trouble in the third, when he issued all three of his walks on the evening to consecutive batters. However, he escaped allowing just the one run, and he was great the rest of the night. He’ll likely face the Braves on next Tuesday, unless the Dodgers want to get a little aggressive and start him on four days’ rest Sunday against the Pirates.

Snell came out sharp in his first start since May 9, striking out the side against the Royals in the first inning. He retired the first ten Royals hitters before Bobby Witt Jr. reached on a single in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Salvador Perez. Snell gave the Dodgers two more scoreless frames, collecting ten strikeouts over six innings in an outstanding return to the mound. He’ll look to follow it up with a start against the Rockies in Colorado on Monday.

Snell makes his return to Los Angeles’ rotation with a start against the Royals on Tuesday following a three-month absence after undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow back in May. The 33-year-old southpaw’s checkered injury history remains an omnipresent concern for fantasy managers. However, he should be an impactful contributor, especially in the strikeout department, over the final six-plus weeks of the season.

That means Tarik Skubal will be pushed back a day to make his home debut on Monday with Justin Wrobleski going in Sunday’s series finale against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Snell has been shelved since undergoing the NanoScope procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow back in May. He could wind up being a major difference maker for fantasy managers down the stretch.

Snell also struck out three and threw 41 of his 73 pitches for strikes. It was clearly not his best outing, but we don’t want to read too much into starts in the PCL. Seeing better command would make us feel a little better about Snell’s immediate results when he returns from elbow surgery, but his velocity looked good, and he was up to 73 pitches, so he should be good to rejoin the Dodgers’ rotation. There may be some command bumps in the early going, but Snell figures to be an impactful fantasy starter down the stretch.

Snell is expected to throw around 75 pitches in Tuesday’s outing or around five innings depending on how things go. As long as he makes it through that start without any issues, he could be cleared to return as early as next weekend. Snell told reporters on Friday that his elbow feels as good as it has in years. He could wind up making a major impact down the stretch for fantasy purposes if he can stay healthy.

Snell threw a staggering 45 of 60 pitches for strikes and looked completely unhittable against low-level minor league hitters. He allowed just one baserunner over four frames. His next steps and return timeline remain murky since the Dodgers appear to be slow-playing the process in an effort to have Snell ready for the home stretch and postseason. The 33-year-old former fantasy ace is coming off nanoscope surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow back in mid-May. It’s challenging to forecast his next steps, but he should be close to making it back to Los Angeles.

There was some optimism that Snell would return to the majors this week, but that’s not happening. The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reports Snell will aim for four innings during this next rehab outing. The 33-year-old southpaw has been out since undergoing elbow surgery back in May. He remains without a definitive return timeline and trying to anticipate his next steps is challenging given his injury history and the lack of urgency from Los Angeles to bring him back.

Snell is scheduled to throw four innings and roughly 60 pitches in his next rehab start on Wednesday, and, as Woo notes, the Dodgers would likely “prefer to wait to activate” the left-hander. However, starting on Tuesday, the Dodgers don’t have an off-day until August 6th, which means 10 days in a row with a game. If the team wants to avoid using Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on regular rest, as Woo indicates they might, then activating Snell and having him on a strict pitch count is something that the Dodgers would consider doing.