San Diego Padres: 3 players who need to be better in May

San Diego Padres player who needs to be better in May: Blake Snell

With Joe Musgrove out and Yu Darvish getting a late start to his season, Blake Snell wound up being the Padres Opening Day starter. He responded by lasting only 4.1 innings at home against the lowly Rockies, allowing three runs on six hits and taking a loss. He threw 93 pitches and couldn't even get through the fifth inning.

An absurd amount of pitches early in games has been a constant theme for this left-hander since joining San Diego, and he's struggled to provide length early on this season as well.

Through the first month of the 2023 campaign, Snell went 0-4 with a 5.48 ERA in five starts and 23 innings pitched. He did have to face the Braves twice, Mets once, and Cubs once, but Snell still did not pitch well.

He did not record a single out in the sixth inning in the month of April and did not allow fewer than two runs. Snell had a 6.72 FIP in the month of April to go along with a 1.870 WHIP. The high WHIP was mainly due to walking 18 batters in 23 innings of work. Most importantly, the Padres lost all five of Snell's starts.

Fortunately for this southpaw, Snell turned in his best start of the season on the first of May, allowing three runs in six innings with no walks and seven strikeouts in a win against the Reds. I get that it's the Reds, but it was encouraged to see Snell in command for once this season. Hopefully he takes this momentum and has a better month of May. San Diego certainly could use it.