From “Bad Contract” to the Hottest Pitcher in Baseball, How Blake Snell Transformed His Season

Despite a rough start to the 2024 MLB season, newly signed San Francisco Giants starter and last year’s National League Cy-Young Award winner Blake Snell has been the league’s best pitcher as of late, throwing six and a third shutout innings on Monday versus the Atlanta Braves while striking out 11. This stellar performance marked the seventh consecutive start that Blake Snell was able to pitch at least five innings while surrendering three runs or less. Of these seven starts, five of them have been scoreless outings and in three of these performances, Snell pitched past the mark of six innings. One of these performances included Snell’s first career no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds, a game in which Snell also managed to strike out 11 batters. Furthermore, the start before that against the Colorado Rockies, Snell pitched six innings and struck out a career-high 15 batters while only facing 18 in total.

Blake Snell got off to a horrendous start to the season after signing a contract with the Giants well into spring training. In the face of tremendous criticism, Snell has been putting the doubters to rest with his electric pitching performances. With the conclusion of Monday’s start, Snell now has dropped his ERA below 4.00 for the first time this season with it now sitting at 3.91. Just eight starts prior, this number sat at 9.51. Snell also now sits among MLB leaders in WHIP and also currently sits atop MLB’s all-time SO/9 list, averaging 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings of work. 

Not only has this amazing string of performances caused many to be in awe of the two-time Cy-Young Award winner, but it leaves many asking questions as to what the future might hold for Blake Snell. The Giants ace signed a two-year 62-million-dollar contract in the off-season with a player option for the 2025 season. What originally looked like a poor season for Snell, has turned around to be quite the opposite. As a result of this, Snell may be much more inclined to opt out of his second-year player option with the Giants and once again pursue a long-term deal elsewhere in free agency. This would make one of the league's premier left-handed arms available again to the highest bidder this winter. In the meantime, Snell will look to continue his great form on Sunday in Oakland against the Athletics.