Snell, who was able to reach the 90-pitch threshold in his last start against the Yankees on Tuesday, feels like he's now completely over the shoulder issue that plagued him during the spring, Richard Justice of MLB.com reports. "I'm a starting pitcher now," Snell said "That's two starts where I've gotten to five innings. I'm not an opener. Can't call me that. So definitely excited about that."
The left-hander's tongue-in-cheek comment stems from the fact he went no longer than three innings in any of his first three starts of the campaign, as manager Kevin Cash and his staff were carefully managing Snell's pitch count. However, as he demonstrated in his most recent turn, Snell's arm appears to be back to being able to handle very close to a normal workload. It's been somewhat of an up-and-down season thus far for the 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner, who's posted three scoreless efforts but also allowed three earned runs apiece in his other two starts.