3 players Padres fans can’t trust heading into the 2022 season

Blake Snell

Blake Snell needs a bounce-back season in 2022, but Padres fans shouldn’t expect Cy Young numbers from him. His 2018 season, when he posted a 1.89 ERA over 31 starts for the Rays, was a departure, not his norm.

In every other season of his career, Snell has an ERA of 3.24 or higher, and his Cy Young season was the only one in which he made more than 27 starts.

As with Tatis, the idea here is to manage expectations. Snell has some filthy stuff on the mound, but he hasn’t even made his first Cactus League start yet. He threw live BP earlier this week, but is a bit behind the rest of the rotation.

Some good news is that Snell says his changeup is “back” after being in “timeout” last season because it wasn’t executing correctly.

3 Padres players who need a comeback season in 2022

If the San Diego Padres want to contend in 2022, they're going to need bigger contributions from Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado, Blake Snell, and others.