Manager Kevin Cash announced Wednesday that Snell would take the hill for the Rays' regular-season opener March 28 versus the Astros, Neil Solondz of the Rays Radio Network reports.
Snell had a rough go of things in his most recent spring outing Tuesday versus the University of South Florida, failing to escape the first inning while allowing four baserunners and finding the strike zone on only 15 of his 29 pitches. The ugly showing won't take the shine off his breakout 2018 campaign (21-5, 1.89 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 221:64 K:BB in 180.2 innings) that culminated in him taking home the American League Cy Young award. An unsustainable 86.2 percent strand rate suggests another sub-2.00 ERA shouldn't be expected, but Snell's impressive underlying skills otherwise point to him being a worthy fantasy ace once again.