Marlins Prospect Robby Snelling Shows Competitive Fire in Spring Training Debut
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Miami Marlins top prospect Robby Snelling made an impressive spring training debut against the New York Mets.
The 22-year-old left-hander showed no fear and felt no pressure. Snelling was calm and poised and threw a perfect first inning, retiring Marcus Semien, Juan Soto, and Bo Bichette.
Snelling Showing Self-Belief that He Belongs in a Big League Rotation
In his debut against the Mets, Snelling challenged his opponents by attacking the strike zone. His velocity and command completely overwhelmed the Mets' first three hitters. With all of the hitters being All-Star-caliber players, Snelling made quite a statement.
“First ones in the books,” Snelling said. “It’s always tough getting one inning, small sample sizes through the entire inning. I look back at that, and it’s like, all right, I really didn’t get to show the entire repertoire, but being able to go out and have a scoreless inning to start the spring, it’s huge. It’s a big confidence booster, and I'm even happier to be in the zone like I was against a really good starting three. It’s a good way to get your feet under you to start the new year.”
Anyone who tuned in to watch Snelling pitch on Saturday can’t really tell if he was nervous, but he admits that there were some nerves while he was on the mound. If that’s the case, then he managed it very well. He enjoyed his outing and wants more cracks at it.
“I stepped onto the mound and obviously have jitters for sure,” Snelling said. “At the end of the day, it’s as if you’re ultimately wanting to get where all of us want to be. I’m going to have to face those guys multiple times and hopefully for a long time. Being able to face them for the first time and have success against them, I know it’s not going to be like that every time, but being able to get a taste in your mouth that I’m able to, is a lot of fun.”
Snelling is not shy about how he feels about potentially making the rotation for the regular season. Snelling shows no thoughts about getting comfortable. He wants to be in the big leagues.
“If you don’t go to spring with that mindset, I’m not going to say you don’t belong there, but you've got to have a little competitive fire in you,” Snelling said.
Snelling appreciates his teammates and will go to war with them, but at the same time, he needs to be selfish for the right reasons. He’s coming to spring training with a mindset that he belongs here, and he’s here to stay.
After graduating from City College of New York in 2014, Miguel created his own blog. Since 2021, he has written for FanSided, where he covered the Toronto Blue Jays, College Football and Utah Mammoth hockey team. He also wrote for Miami Heat on SI and Cleveland Sports Talk. Miguel is the creator and host of his podcast, Baseball Heat Podcast with Mike.