Tampa Bay Rays’ Blake Snell to make MLB debut on Saturday

Blake Snell, the Tampa Bay Rays’ top pitching prospect, will reportedly make his MLB debut on Saturday.

The Tampa Bay Rays will get a look at the future of their pitching staff tomorrow when they call up left-hander Blake Snell. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that the 23-year-old Snell will start Saturday against the New York Yankees:

It’s hard to imagine a bigger stage for a young player to make his major league debut than Yankee Stadium, so the Rays will get an early view of how Snell handles the spotlight opposite a prominent division rival.

Tampa Bay selected Snell in the first round (52nd overall) of the 2011 draft, and he steadily became one of the organization’s most highly-touted prospects. Last season he really began to distinguish himself, posting impressive numbers across three minor league levels. He finished the year with a 15-4 overall record and a 1.41 ERA in 134 total innings.

Snell’s banner season netted him 2015 Minor League Player of the Year honors from Baseball America. The Rays were so high on him entering this spring that they floated the idea of preemptively signing him to a long-term contract.

In three starts at Triple-A this year, Snell’s strong form has continued. He owns a 2.51 ERA over 14.1 innings of work, and he has also racked up a cool 21 strikeouts in that span. Tampa had been expected to send Erasmo Ramirez to the mound on Saturday, but his relief appearance on Thursday afternoon in Boston nixed that option. Snell’s performance in the minors made him the most compelling choice to receive the call.

Since Snell’s debut is essentially a spot start, it’s certainly possible that he could be sent back down after the outing. However, if the young southpaw makes an impression tomorrow, the Rays could be inclined to keep running him out there. And with last year’s ace Chris Archer still not looking like himself, the team might find an infusion of top pitching talent appealing.

Tampa Bay has a history of developing talented young arms, one that Snell hopes to continue. MLB Pipeline (which currently ranks Snell as the #2 left-handed pitching prospect in the game after the Dodgers’ Julio Urias) praises his fastball, slider and changeup, but believes his control could still use some refinement.

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The Yankees, who have been struggling mightily with the bat the past couple weeks, likely wouldn’t mind seeing Snell experience a few hiccups tomorrow when he takes the hill for the first time as a big leaguer. Otherwise it could be another trying afternoon for a lineup that has had particular trouble against lefties this season.