CLEARWATER—Robby Snelling is running the gauntlet.

On Friday, the 22-year-old left-hander made his second spring training start. He has faced just eleven different batters in that microscopic sample, but those eleven have combined for twenty MLB All-Star appearances.

In last Saturday’s inaugural game of the Grapefruit League season, Fish On First’s #3 prospect went one-two-three against New York’s Marcus Semien, Juan Soto, and Bo Bichette.

Snelling’s encore wasn’t as easy. Visiting yet another division rival—this go-around, it was the Philadelphia Phillies in a drizzly Clearwater—Snelling surrendered five hits, two walks and four earned runs in 1 â…“ innings pitched (he was pulled after recording one out in the first, but re-entered for the second). Philadelphia rode the early momentum into a blowout 10-2 victory.

Snelling categorized his performance as “not good by (his) standards, or by anybody else’s standards.” At the same time, he acknowledged that “you’ve got to kind of take away the good things as much as you can. Realize that it’s spring, and there’s going to be some growing pains.”

The southpaw began his outing issuing back-to-back walks before falling into unfavorable counts where the damage was done. Three consecutive RBI knocks from the middle of the Phillies order were enough to send Miami Marlins skipper Clayton McCullough out to get his young arm for a break before re-entering an inning later.

“Walking two guys, not excusable at all. It kind of puts you in a hole, blood’s in the water, and those types of hitters are gonna sense that and put balls in play, and that’s what happened. That’s the negative takeaway.”

Snelling’s return in the second was greatly more efficient and clean, racking up two strikeouts of J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber while forfeiting just one unearned run.

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“Going back out, getting my feet under me the next inning I went out was good,” added Snelling. “Go out and get a couple of punchouts and locate stuff a little bit better, and have a little more conviction and confidence behind everything. Body felt good. Super thankful for that. Time to kind of flush it and move on.”

McCullough concurred with Snelling’s judgment of his second inning, adding he “loved how he finished the outing. The first one, which you see a lot, sometimes as a starter, you come out of there, and it takes a little while to get into a rhythm. He just fell behind too many hitters there early on, and got himself in some tough spots, and they put some good swings on it. But I love how he came out for the second inning.”

The benefit of getting reps against stout competition outweighs the disappointment of poor results. “It’s a good test,” McCullough said. “Philly’s had a good lineup for several years; there’s a lot of really, really good hitters spread throughout, and Toronto yesterday for Thomas (White). But that’s what you get in the major leagues. They’re good players. And it just continues to emphasize the value of the ability to get ahead, and maintain count leverage.”

 

Notes and Quotes

– Miami’s two runs came off the bats of Heriberto Hernández and Griffin Conine. Additionally, for whatever reason, the latter continues to get challenged by runners rounding third, Trea Turner or not.

– Xavier Edwards enjoyed an ideal Xavier Edwards day, recording a hit, walk and two stolen bases. “X, that’s what he does” said McCullough. “It’s still very early in camp and looks like he’s seeing the ball very well; even the first at-bat, he hit the ball hard… It’s good to see him on the bases being aggressive this early in camp. It’s certainly a major part of his game, and something that we’re going to continue to push with him to be aggressive and try to create some some havoc on the basepaths and get himself in scoring position. So, really good day for him.”

– Sandy Alcantara pitched in a simulated game Friday morning at the Marlins complex in Jupiter. Alcantara faced ten batters, striking out six, and threw 27 of his 36 pitches for strikes. “He was great,” noted McCullough, relaying feedback from Marlins personnel who were in attendance. “The sweeper, which is something that he’s been working on, sounded like it was great today. Sandy was excited.” On Sunday, Alcantara will report to Team Dominican Republic for the World Baseball Classic.

– One month from today, Alcantara and the Marlins will be under the lights of loanDepot park for Opening Day 2026.

 

Up Next

Returning home after two days in the Tampa suburbs, the Fish square off Saturday against a much more familiar spring opponent in their complex-mate St. Louis Cardinals at 1:10. Filling in for the aforementioned Alcantara on the mound is none other than his protégé, Eury Perez.