Rays' Ace Blake Snell Gets Yankees Scouting Report From Aaron Judge

Just because the baseball season is postponed, doesn't mean players aren't trying to acquire scouting reports on how to improve against their division rivals.

On an Instagram live via MLB on Thursday, Tampa Bay Rays' ace Blake Snell spent some time chatting with Yankees' star Aaron Judge. At one point, Snell put New York's right fielder on the spot, asking what goes through his mind when he steps in the box with the left-hander on the mound.

"Let's say we're in a game and you're about to face me," Snell asked with a huge smile. "What are you looking for?"

As the words came out of Snell's mouth, the former American League Cy Young Award winner simultaneously pulled out a pen and pad just high enough to be on camera for Judge to see.

"Oh you're writing this down? You're taking notes?" Judge joked.

Both Snell and Judge made their big-league debuts in 2016 and have ascended to stardom with their respective clubs. Playing in the same division all these years, the two have faced off against each other plenty of times. Nonetheless, the Bombers' slugger didn't back down from the southpaw's question.

"You're going to start with a high heater, you're always going to give me something up to get me looking up there," he explained, garnering some movement from Snell's left hand as he put pen to paper. "Work that little changeup off of that and then sliders in. If we get to 3-2 and we're battling in maybe my second at-bat, you're going to flip in a curveball."

The two stars were beaming.

"I don't know," Judge said. "I can't give you everything, bro!"

During Judge's answer, his teammate Gleyber Torres' name popped up in the video's live comments section, evidently catching Snell's eye.

"That's good, I'm just trying to know. What about Gleyber?" Snell followed up. "Gleyber said the curve so perfect. 'Don't throw curve, keep the heater coming.'"

In 2018, Snell was arguably the best pitcher in all of Major League Baseball, winning 21 games to lead all hurlers and capture the league's Cy Young Award. Overall, however, he's had mixed results facing the Bombers.

Snell's pitched against New York 16 times across his four-year career. That's by far more than any other team in baseball that he's ever pitched against. With Yankees hitters in the box, the left-hander has posted a 4.41 ERA across 69 1/3 innings pitched. He's surrendered 11 home runs while striking out 84.

Not too bad considering the modest sample size. Despite keeping New York's offense relatively dormant – limiting hitters to a .238 batting average, his record in games started against the Bombers is a different story. Snell is 3-6 in games against the Yankees, three more losses than his record against any other team in the Majors.

.@snellzilla4 gotta get that scouting report ready! 😂 https://t.co/lk5fHr1QXL
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 10, 2020

Specifically against Judge and Torres, however, Snell has had success.

Judge is just 1-for-14 with six walks and eight strikeouts when facing Snell. A .071 batting average against the lefty is tied for the slugger's worst among hurlers he's faced more than 12 times in his career – Judge has an identical average while facing Snell's teammate Charlie Morton as well.

As for Torres, the shortstop is 2-for-10 with one home run, three runs batted in and four punch outs up against the Rays' ace.

"I need this information," Snell explained. "If I don't have it, it's always tough playing y'all in New York with your fans, man."

He isn't kidding. Besides Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field, Snell has made the more starts in Yankee Stadium than other road venue in baseball. In his career in the Bronx, Snell has only won one start in a span of 11 games – the left-hander has posted a 5.82 ERA across 43 1/3 innings pitched against hitters in pinstripes.

Just last season, New York tagged Snell for six runs in the bottom of the first, knocking him out of the game after just one out.

.@RaysBaseball LHP Blake Snell details his last start vs. Yankees.#RaysUp #MLB pic.twitter.com/0eTxNmfqdY
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) July 15, 2019

It's a good thing for Snell that he took notes on Judge's comments so he can remember them for a long time. After all, it remains to be seen whether or not games will be played this season after the novel coronavirus pandemic forced MLB to postpone Opening Day.

One proposal would actually place Tampa Bay and New York in different divisions – as teams return to their Spring Training sites to join realigned divisions in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues.

Should divisions remain the same, however, and games be played in a shortened campaign this year, Snell will still have ample opportunities to apply what he learned on Thursday into head-to-head matchups with his friend and AL East foe.

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For more from Max Goodman, follow him on Twitter @MaxTGoodman. Follow ITP on Twitter @SI_Yankees and Facebook @SIYankees