Blake Snell Scheduled For Potentially Final Rehab Start

Blake Snell is scheduled to make another rehab start on Saturday for Single-A Ontario, his third with the team and fourth overall. He will face the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the former Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Snell began his rehab assignment with the Tower Buzzers, allowing one run on four hits in four innings across two starts. He gave up just one hit and collected six strikeouts in his second appearance on April 28.

In his most recent outing for Triple-A Oklahoma City on May 3, Snell reached his target of completing four innings. He allowed two runs and collected four strikeouts on 55 pitches.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts previously set a goal of building Snell up to five innings before activating him off the 15-day injured list. If the left-hander is able to do so this weekend, he could rejoin the Dodgers rotation shortly after.

When Snell began the season on the IL due to left shoulder fatigue, the Dodgers estimated his return would not come until late May. He is currently ahead of that timeline, which could loom large in the wake of Tyler Glasnow leaving his start on Wednesday with low back pain.

The right-hander was expected to undergo an MRI on his back once the Dodgers return from their road trip. That could have come as early as Thursday, which was an off day on the Dodgers’ schedule, or perhaps Friday morning.

“Just a spasm that kind of just gives out. I’ve gotten it since, I don’t know, like high school. Being tall I guess I get it a couple times a year,” Glasnow explained on SportsNet LA after the game.

“It was just on a warmup pitch, it gave out. I tried to throw another one and it was too hard to bend over. But it’s not too serious. I’ve had this a few times. It’s just one of those things where it’s thrown out and once it feels better, it feels better. It shouldn’t be too long.”

Dodgers rotation with Blake Snell

If Glasnow is placed on the IL, Snell will simply take his spot in the rotation. The rest of group is comprised of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Justin Wrobleski, Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan.

Should the Dodgers determine that Glasnow doesn’t need a stint on the IL, Snell’s return will likely bump Sheehan out of the rotation and into a relief role. Though, another option could be to move Wrobleski back into the bullpen despite his dominant showing as a starter.