Tampa Bay Rays: Blake Snell’s CYA 2018 April-May Breakdown

Tampa Bay Rays starter Blake Snell has been in the news the past two weeks for reasons other than his play on the field. We take a look back at his best season.

Tampa Bay Rays former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell has been in the headlines recently for his commentary on the owners’ proposal for a 2020 season and his partnership with super-agent Scott Boras.

Today, we want to look back on his spectacular 2018 season in which he won the A.L. Cy Young. How good was he in 2018?

That season, Blake Snell went 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA in 31 starts with 221 strikeouts and a 0.97 WHIP.

He was downright nasty. He led the league in wins and in ERA. The only real knock against him that season was that he didn’t go deep enough into games. However, he only started 31 games and averaged nearly six innings per outing. Had he have hit the 35 start mark he was on pace for 203.2 innings pitched.

Tampa Bay Rays: Blake Snell 2018 – April

In the month of April Snell made six starts, going at least six innings in the final four outings. This included a two-game stretch in which he pitched 13.1 combined innings striking out 15 batters, walking zero and allowing two runs.

Snell exceeded 100 pitches in the final four starts of the month. He finished April out with a 2.52 ERA and four consecutive wins to give him a 4-1 record.

Tampa Bay Rays: Blake Snell 2018 – May

In May he exceeded six innings in four of his six starts. He only allowed more than two runs in one outing on the month when the Baltimore Orioles tagged him for five earned runs in just three and a third innings en route to a 17-1 victory on May 13.

He finished out the month by shutting out Boston in six innings on May 24 and then doing the same to Oakland in 5.2 innings. He went 3-2 on the month and finished his season record now set at 7-3 after the first two months of the season with a 2.56 ERA.

Part two will cover June through July of his incredible performance.