by Cary Osborne
Blake Snell’s arrival with the Dodgers, after agreeing to a five-year deal on Saturday, gives Los Angeles one of the elite pitchers in Major League Baseball. It also positions the team to be one of the most difficult starting pitching matchups in the big leagues.
Fourteen starting pitchers (minimum 90 innings pitched in 2024) in the Majors averaged at least 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Three of them are now Dodgers:
· №2 Snell: 12.5 K/9
· №5 Tyler Glasnow: 11.3 K/9
· №14 Yoshinobu Yamamoto: 10.5 K/9
The left-hander Snell (2.43) and right-handers Yamamoto (2.61) and Glasnow (2.90) ranked Nos. 2, 5 and 7, respectively, in the Majors in fielding independent pitching (FIP) among that group of starters with at least 90 innings pitched. FIP measures events that a pitcher has the most control over. It removes defense and thus could be argued is a better indicator of a pitcher’s performance than ERA.
Snell limited opponents to a .173 batting average and a .279 slugging percentage in 2024. Glasnow was .190/.347. Yamamoto was .229/.365.
The Major League average was .243/.399.
Dodger two-way player Shohei Ohtani, who didn’t pitch in 2024 due to elbow surgery, has averaged 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings, has a 3.31 FIP and has limited opponents to a .200 average and .332 slugging percentage in 86 career Major League starts.
Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner (2018 with Tampa Bay and 2023 with San Diego), will begin his Dodger career coming off a fascinating season.
He signed with the San Francisco Giants on March 19 — nearly five weeks after pitchers and catchers reported for Spring Training. He landed on the injured list twice with a left groin injury and wasn’t right in the first half — a 9.51 ERA in six starts.
He reset in the second half and was arguably the best starting pitcher in the Majors after the All-Star break.
Snell led all Major League pitchers (minimum 10 starts) with a 1.45 second-half ERA and had the lowest opponents’ batting average (.133), slugging percentage (.189) and OPS (.412). He ranked second in strikeouts per nine innings (13.6).
He struck out 15 Colorado batters on July 7 over six shutout innings, then he no-hit the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 2 in his next start.
Overall, he had a 3.12 ERA and 1.05 WHIP with 145 strikeouts in 104 innings (20 starts) in 2024.
At age 31, his average four-seamer velocity (95.9) was a career high. Over the last two seasons, opponents are 41-for-393 (.104) with a .186 slugging percentage against his curveball and slider. He uses his breaking ball a third of the time, and for a pitcher who has thrown breaking balls as much as he has, he ranks first in the Majors in lowest batting average and slugging percentage against.
Snell has averaged 135 innings and 26 starts over the last four seasons. He reached 180 innings and 32 starts with San Diego in 2023. Glasnow reached a career-high 134 innings and 22 starts last season. Yamamoto made 18 starts and pitched 90 innings in 2024.
But the Dodgers will go into 2025 with depth.
These are the Dodger starting pitchers currently under contract with Major League experience, excluding those whose 2024 seasons ended due to surgery:
· Snell
· Glasnow
· Yamamoto
· Ohtani (missed 2024 recovering/rehabbing from surgery)
· Tony Gonsolin (missed 2024 recovering/rehabbing from surgery)
· Dustin May (missed 2024 recovering/rehabbing from surgeries)
· Bobby Miller (career 5.24 ERA/4.59 FIP in 35 MLB starts)
· Landon Knack (made MLB debut April 17)
· Justin Wrobleski (made MLB debut July 7)
· Ben Casparius (made MLB debut Aug. 31)
Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Jack Flaherty are free agents.
Blake Snell’s arrival makes Dodger rotation even more imposing was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.