Marlins To Select Robby Snelling

The Marlins are calling up pitching prospect Robby Snelling. He’ll be selected to the roster and will start Friday against the Nationals. They have an open 40-man spot after designating Chris Paddack for assignment earlier this week, so they will only need to open an active roster spot for him. Manager Clayton McCullough announced the news to reporters, including Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base.

The Snelling promotion has been expected since not long after Paddack’s DFA. He and fellow lefty Braxton Garrett were possibilities to take the ball Friday in place of Paddack, but Garrett tossed 80 pitches in a start for Triple-A Jacksonville last night, strongly hinting that Friday would be Snelling’s big league debut. The team has now made that official.

Selected by the Padres with the No. 39 overall pick back in 2022, Snelling made his way to the Marlins organization as part of the return in the deadline trade sending relievers Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing to San Diego. His stock was down a bit at the time of the swap, but he’s rebounded nicely with the Marlins organization — so much so that Baseball America ranked him 26th on this morning’s refresh of their top-100 prospect  rankings.

The 22-year-old Snelling has been excellent this year in six Triple-A starts, recording a 1.86 ERA and a mammoth 40% strikeout rate — albeit against a concerning 13.6% walk rate. He’s kept 57% of batted balls against him on the ground. Snelling was also lights out in 11 Triple-A starts last year (1.27 ERA — 2.51 overall ERA between Double-A and Triple-A). At this point, he seems more than ready for a look in the majors, even with the sub-par command.

Snelling, listed at 6’3″ and 210 pounds, works primarily off a four-seam fastball that averages just over 94 mph and a curveball that sits 82-83 mph. He mixes in an occasional changeup and slider, but the four-seamer/curveball combo has accounted for more than 80% of his pitches in 2026. Snelling’s four-seamer and curveball both drew plus grades (60) on BA’s scouting report, while his lesser-used changeup and slider still garner above-average (55) ratings on the 20-80 scale. He’ll need to rein in his command, but it’s not hard to see why the Marlins are eager to take a look at a 22-year-old southpaw with four above-average pitches and a sub-2.00 ERA in 18 career Triple-A starts.

Since Snelling opened the season in the minors and wasn’t called up until early May, he won’t qualify to net the Marlins an additional draft pick under MLB’s prospect promotion incentive (PPI) program. Enough time has elapsed this season that the only way for him to accrue a full year of major league service time would be to finish first or second in National League Rookie of the Year balloting. Snelling certainly has the pedigree to do so, but young standouts like Nolan McLean, JJ Wetherholt and Sal Stewart all have a considerable head start on him in that race.

Barring a top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Snelling will remain under club control for at least six years beyond the 2026 campaign. If he sticks in the majors for good from this point forth, he’ll be a surefire Super Two player, thereby making him eligible for arbitration four times (beginning after the 2028 season) rather than the standard three.

With Paddack on his way out the door, there’s a long-term spot in the Miami rotation open. This figures to be more than just a simple spot start. Snelling should have a clear runway to prove he can be a building block in the rotation. Triple-A teammate Thomas White, who ranked 11th on the aforementioned Baseball America top-100 update, should get the chance to join him at some point down the road this year.

Miami only has Sandy Alcantara signed through the 2027 season, but the allure of a rotation including Alcantara, Snelling, White, Eury Pérez and Max Meyer — with Garrett and Janson Junk also in the mix — is readily apparent. Even if the Fish finally trade Alcantara this summer, the starting staff has several high-upside young pieces who could form the nucleus of a contending staff … if the Marlins can find a way to put together a decent offense. Only twice in the past two decades have the Marlins put together an offense that was better than league-average, by measure of wRC+. The 2007 and 2017 Marlins both logged collective wRC+ marks of 101, indicating they were 1% better than average. They’re exactly average (100) so far in 2026.