Blake Snell Injury Update Could Cloud Fantasy Outlook Heading into Fantasy Baseball Draft Season

After breaking out as a top fantasy baseball pitcher with 21 wins and 221 strikeouts in 2018, Blake Snell's value cooled off a bit in an injury plagued 2019 season that saw him turn in just 6 wins with 147 strikeouts.

Looking healthy heading into 2020, Snell is once again in consideration as one of the top players in fantasy baseball. That "looking healthy" caveat hit a bit of a speed bump at the end of February, though, when Snell received a cortisone shot on his left elbow.

#Rays manager Kevin Cash said Blake Snell received a cortisone shot on his left elbow. Cash said they aren’t overly concerned and the plan is for Snell to play catch on Tuesday.
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) February 29, 2020

Blake Snell Fantasy Outlook

While Snell's injuries and jump from a 1.89 ERA to 4.29 ERA may have his 2019 season looking like a concern on the surface, there's not much to be worried about on that front.

His skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) of 3.56 was only slightly above his 3.30 mark from 2019, and it would have been good for 10th among qualifying pitchers if he had thrown enough innings to land on the leaderboard.

He also arguably showed even nastier stuff than he had in 2018, with his walk rate holding steady at 9.1 percent, while his strikeout rate climbed from 31.6 percent to 33.3 percent — a mark that would have checked in at fourth among qualifying hurlers.

#Rays Snell said he’s optimistic shot will alleviate soreness in his elbow and is still hopeful of starting season on time but doesn’t know for sure
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 1, 2020

A preseason elbow ailment is always going to leave some room for concern, but Snell and the Tampa Bay Rays don't seem overly concerned at his point.

This is definitely a situation to monitor as fantasy baseball draft season approaches, but for the time being, it's too early to downgrade Snell. Since the Rays are planning to have him do some throwing on Tuesday, hopefully we'll have a more concrete update coming soon.

Snell checks in as the 10th-ranked starting pitcher in our 2020 fantasy baseball rankings.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.