Snelling's Struggles in Triple-A

On April 4th, Robbie Snelling, the 22-year-old lefty in one of Miami's top pitching prospects, picked up his first loss of the season Friday.

In AAA, Jacksonville against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.

He went just four innings, throwing 84 pitches, allowing three runs on four hits, including a homer, with two walks and seven strikeouts.

That dropped his ERA to 4.50.

Earlier this week in his debut start, things look sharper. He gave up only one run on one hit over four innings, with under 70 pitches, two.

Walks, and three strikeouts.

Batters are hitting just 172 against them so far, but the pitch counts show he's not stretching out yet.

Miami kept him in the minors to build stamina, since they need starters who can go deeper, like six innings regularly.

Spring training didn't help his case, where he posted a 7.56 ERA over 8.1 innings, facing big league hitters who roughed him up.

The Marlins are playing the long game with Snelling, and their number one prospect, Thomas White, who's rehabbing down in Class A.

His pro career since signing out of high school in 2023, boasts a 3.20 ERA over 363 innings, with 4.09 strikeouts.

Once he commands those deeper counts, expects Snelling to climb fast toward that Marlins rotation spot he was built for.

That wraps MLB News Today, brought to you with AI. I'm Corey with The Story.