Blake Snell & Andrew Friedman are together again

Yesterday at 01:30 PM

Highlights from Snell's Tuesday press conference at Dodger Stadium after signing a 5-year contract to pitch in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — Tuesday's press conference at Dodger Stadium was to introduce Blake Snell, who signed a $182 million contract to join the Dodgers. But it was also a reunion for Snell and Andrew Friedman.

Friedman was the Rays general manager when Tampa Bay drafted Snell with the 51st pick in 2011 MLB Draft, out of Shoreline High School in Washington. Now they are together again in Los Angeles.

"Being able to pitched in a packed stadium, to make moments for people, this is where you want to play. I don't think there's a situation that you could be in better than being right here," Snell said. "Knowing Andrew as well as I know him, that played a big part. It all started because he believed in me."

Snell reached the majors at age 23 in 2016, but by then Friedman moved on to become the president of baseball operations in Los Angeles. So Friedman has been on the other side of all 17 starts by Snell against the Dodgers over his career, in which the left-hander has a 2.57 ERA and 32.6-percent strikeout rate in 84 innings.

"You know that old adage — if you can't beat them, just have them join us," Friedman quipped. "We couldn't beat him, so we're going to have him join us in helping us win a World Series next year and into the future."

Snell already has two Cy Young Awards under his belt, winning in 2018 with the Rays and in 2023 with the Padres. Those are the only two of his nine major league seasons in which he topped 130 innings.

The left-hander missed time with a left adductor strain and left groin strain, but was dominant down the stretch, posting a 1.23 ERA over his final 14 starts, with 114 strikeouts in 80⅓ innings.

"Usually when I get into a rhythm, I can really take that the rest of the season. So it was just learning to get through those first two hiccups," Snell said on the eve of his 32nd birthday. "I was really confident in my rehab starts going into late June and July, that I could take this all the way and start dominating."

The Dodgers are hoping to get more of that version of Snell, and with this five-year contract are betting that he can continue his production through age 36.

"That stretch in the second half last year is about as dominant as a pitcher could possibly be, and you saw the uptick in strike one," Friedman said. "You see a guy that has had some of his challenges in terms of walk rate, and you think, okay, he doesn't really know where his ball is going, but he's got great stuff. He actually has really good command.

"The problem is he's really hard to hit. So therefore most pitchers can end an at bat earlier than he can on a ball and play. Blake is so challenging to hit, that at-bats often don't end whether it's fouled off or just locks them up and they take it and it's a ball. I think there's some pitch selection, pitch usage, just different things that can help just that extra little bit."

Snell's walk rate is high, at 10.5 percent in 2024 ranking fourth-highest among pitchers with at least 100 innings, and his 11.7-percent walk rate over the last four years is highest among pitchers with 400-plus innings. He also has the highest strikeout rate (32.1 percent) over the last four years (Shohei Ohtani is second, that's fun), and his 34.7-percent K rate in 2024 was second-best.

Over the last four years, Snell has topped 27 starts only once (during his 2023 Cy Young season), and has averaged 26 starts and 135 innings per year during that time. Context is key though, as no Dodgers pitcher has started 26 games in either of the last two seasons, and 135 innings would have led the 2023 Dodgers and finished a close second to Gavin Stone (140⅓) in 2024.

The Dodgers have a large number of starting pitchers who could potentially be available to start for them in 2025, but many are coming off injuries and have question marks. Snell represents a high-quality attempt at adding some certainty to the rotation plans.

While expensive, adding Snell costs only money (to be fair, a lot of money), rather than having to trade away prospects to add players during the season.

"My goal is to do everything we can right now, to not buy in July," Friedman said. "It's a terrible time to acquire talent."

Of course, the Dodgers were confident in their rotation depth last offseason too, but they ended up putting 11 starting pitchers on the injured list in 2024, some of whom won't even be available in 2025.

"Last February, I naively joked about how we may even be in position to be sellers, and be in a good position," Friedman said. "I will never make that mistake again."