Blake Snell

Blake Ashton Snell (born December 4, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Tampa Bay Rays selected Snell in the first round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. He made his MLB debut with the Rays in 2016 and won the Cy Young Award in the American League (AL) in 2018, when he was an All-Star and led the league in both wins and earned run average (ERA). Early life Snell attended Shorewood High School in Shoreline, Washington, where he played for the baseball team. In high school, he trained at a facility owned by his father, a former minor league baseball player. In his senior season, Snell recorded a 9–0 win–loss record, a 1.00 ERA with 128 strikeouts in over 63 innings pitched. Professional career Draft and minor leagues The Tampa Bay Rays selected Snell in the first round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Rays and made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast Rays, where he was 1–2 with a 3.08 ERA in 11 games (eight starts). He spent 2012 with the Princeton Rays, pitching to a 5–1 record and a 2.09 ERA in 11 starts, and 2013 with the Bowling Green Hot Rods where he compiled a 4–9 record and a 4.27 ERA in 23 starts.