The rotation of the Dodgers lacks a clear battle horse. Maybe it’s … Blake Snell?

Glendale, Arizona. – The Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, recently talked about how the three Japanese headlines of his team are accustomed to launching once a week and how several other rotation candidates are leaving injuries and must be careful carefully.

Then, Roberts mentioned the head of the Dodgers that he could take something similar to a regular turn, even if the team follows his plan to use a rotation of six men.

“Blake Snell wants to launch,” Roberts said. “That is what is used to.”

Snell, 32, barely carries the reputation of an old hoss radbon of the 21st century, accumulating tickets year after year. But as the left -hander begins its five -year contract, $ 182 million free agents with the Dodgers, is in the tendency to become that type of pitcher, or at least as close as one in the game today can be. And, the most important thing for Dodgers, wants to assume that responsibility.

“I think I’m a very talented pitcher. I think I’m a battle horse, ”said Snell on Tuesday. “I have to go more tickets. I will get there. I’m not in a sprint to get there. I’m just trying to improve every day. “

Three owners of the Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin) are leaving the main elbow surgeries. Two others (Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto) wasting significant time last season with arm problems. And the other newcomer in addition to Snell (Roki Sasaki) is only 23 years old and in Japan never launched more than 129 1/3 entries in a season.

By recruiting Snell as a free agent, Dodgers baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, heard considerable growth of a pitcher who originally wrote for the rays of Tampa Bay out of Shorewood (Wash.) High at age 18. Snell talked about the value of eliminating tickets. He also showed a greater understanding of the need to get ahead in the count, something that has been stressed since he entered Pro Ball.

“He made it a much easier bet for us,” said Friedman.

Snell has passed the 130 entries only twice in his career in the big leagues. The two times he did, he was at 180 or just above. But twice, first with the Rays in 2018, then with San Diego’s parents in 2023, he won the Cy Young award. And he is anxious to learn from a new teammate with three CYS: Zurdo Clayton Kershaw, who is According to the Dodgers In a new agreement, waiting for a physique, saying: “I wanted to be close to him all my career.” The Snell locker at the Dodgers Spring Club Casa is next to Kershaw’s.

Last season, Snell did not sign with the San Francisco giants until March 19 and fought to patch physically, twice on the list of injured in the first half with groin/adductor problems. But he launched seven or more entries in four of his last 13 openings, including his non-Hitter in Cincinnati on August 2. During its incredible final of 23 openings in ’23, it was seven or more only three times.

Yes, Snell wants the ball, and when he is healthy, he takes it. He also wasting time with adductor problems in 2021 and ’22. But his last trip to the IL for a problem with the arm was in July 2019, when he underwent artroscopic surgery to eliminate loose bodies in the elbow and left almost two months.

“Blake likes to launch,” said Bob Melvin, Snell manager with the parents in 2023 and the giants in the ’24. “I never remember asking me for an extra day (rest).”

Fans of a certain age could laugh at the notion that Snell becomes more entries, but these things are relative. In 2010, 45 pitchers threw 200 or more entries. In 2019, the year before COVID-19, 15 hit that plateau. But last season, only four pitchers reached 200 tickets, matching the ’21 as the lowest for a complete campaign, according to the performance of the statistics, and in the ’21, leaving the shortened season of 60 games, the teams were Extremely cautious with its pitchers.

The launch approach has changed significantly since the Rays of Friedman took Snell with the 52nd general selection of the 2011 Draft. The teams do not develop holding pitchers to work seven tickets or, the sky does not want it, they throw complete games. Most clubs, supported by statistical evidence, are reluctant to expose the entrants to an alignment for the third time.

The perception of Snell as someone who cannot participate in the games arose largely because the Rays limited their workload. The defining game of Snell’s career was not his game without hits last season, but his game 6 starts against the Dodgers in the 2020 World Series, when the Rays manager, Kevin Cash, lifted him at the sixth post From 73 pitches, despite the fact that Snell had only allowed two hits and struck out nine. The 1-0 advantage of the Rays quickly became a 2-1 deficit, then a 3-1 loss that ends the series.

The former launcher of the Great League, Chris Archer, a special Dodgers assistant, was Snell’s teammate with the 2016 Rays to ’18. Remember to have seen Snell throw the bullpen for the first time and have thought: “Whoa, that’s different, things that come out of his hand.” And remember how Tampa Bay gradually depended more on his bullpen, changing the mentality of the battle horse established by James Shields, embodied by David Price and emulated, if not duplicate, by Archer, Alex Cobb and Jake Odorizzi. Archer was the last Rays pitcher to launch 200 tickets, in 2017.

The former Rays teammate, Chris Archer, on the left, is now a special assistant for the Dodgers. (Kim Klement / Imagn images)

“Tampa was very conservative with the way they brought him,” Archer said about Snell. “This is how they achieved their workload. Even from the moment he was young, he was never a guy who only gave the ball. It was never about him. It was more organizational: ‘We believe we have something special. We will be more conservative. ‘”

In Archer’s opinion, the Rays plan worked. Snell has greatly avoided serious injuries and has had its high -end things during the entire nine -year career. Snell also believes that the Rays approach benefited him, providing him with a base for long -term success.

“At the beginning of my career, I was limited,” said Snell. “Looking at it now, (it’s something) that really respects. They were taking care of me. People get on the rays: “Oh, you just leave” that they go five. “But they were protecting me, letting me build and really learn to be a great league player, which I really appreciate now.

“The last four or five years, I’m really beginning to discover how to launch, how to deepen, learn a lot, see many good pitchers who were in my teams,” Snell continued, citing the Yu of parents Darvish and Joe Musgrove and Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. “It’s something I want to improve. Now I’m here with Kershaw. I couldn’t think of someone better to talk to, to learn to be a better version of yourself. “

Is 200 entries a goal?

“I think health and quality begin, those are my goals,” said Snell. “If that’s where he drives, of course. But the quality begins is probably my biggest approach. If you have a quality start, it will reach 200 “.

Mathematics for 200, almost seven innings per start for 30 exits, are discouraging for a pitcher in today’s game. It will be even more discouraging for Snell if the Dodgers, as expected, adhere to a rotation of six men. In the course of a full season, a rotation of six men would leave a pitcher with a maximum of 27 openings.

Roberts, to accommodate everyone, knows that “a small rotation gymnastics” should use. The Dodgers will read and react according to the health of their entrants. Sometimes, for long periods of consecutive games, Snell could end up working every fifth day.

However, the season takes place, Snell is the head of the most likely dodgers to be an unconditional, a type of milk, let’s dare to say it – battle horses.

“I came here to launch as much as possible,” said Blake Snell.

(Superior photo of Blake Snell in December: David Crane / Medaks Group / Los Angeles Daily News through Getty Images)