The Tampa Bay Rays were in need of a starter for Saturday's game against the New York Yankees and have opted to call up Blake Snell from Triple-A Durham. Snell, who is ranked as the No.1 prospect in the Rays' system by Baseball America and MLB.com, will be making his MLB debut.
Snell had a breakout season between three levels in the minors last season. After throwing 21 innings of shutout ball in High-A, he was promoted to Double-A where he posted a 1.57 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 79/29 K/BB ratio in 12 starts. When Snell was promoted to Triple-A, he posted a 1.82 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 57/13 K/BB ratio over 44 1/3 innings pitched.
Snell will be taking the start for Erasmo Ramirez, who was scheduled to pitch in Saturday's game before he was needed in relief on Thursday. It is still unkown if this is a long-term callup and Snell will remain in the rotation or if it is a spot start. Tampa Bay likely wants to have Snell under contract, which would be impacted by Super Two.
The matchup is a good one for the left-handed Snell as he takes on a Yankees lineup that has hit just .220 against lefties this season. It makes for an intriguing DFS play tomorrow, especially given how teams tend to struggle against rookie pitchers given the lack of a scouting report on them.