Blake Snell will need one more rehab start before the Dodgers decide he is ready to come back. Dave Roberts said Thursday that Snell, the front office and pitching coach Mark Prior would talk through whether the left-hander needed another outing after his latest step in rehab, and the answer was yes: one more start next Tuesday with Triple-A Oklahoma City at Salt Lake City.
The timing matters because Snell is now deep enough into the process that every outing changes the return date. He said this will be his fourth rehab start this time around, and the next one is being built to five innings and 75 pitches. That gives the Dodgers a clearer measure of whether his arm can handle a starter’s workload again, not just whether he can get through a short tuneup.
Snell’s last outing on Wednesday night made the choice less about whether he looked ready and more about how far the team wants to push him. He threw 60 pitches in four scoreless innings for Class-A Ontario, then said his fastball sat between 95 and 97 mph. He also said his mechanics are much better and that only the curveball still needs work. On its face, that looks like a pitcher who is close. The Dodgers still chose to slow it down.
That caution fits the way Snell has talked about this return. He said the buildup to five innings is not something he wants to argue with again, adding that he already pushed back on that kind of plan last time and got hurt. He also said he feels far better after surgery in May to remove loose bodies from his elbow, saying the shoulder pain he had been dealing with went away and that he could feel the fingers in his left hand again after about a year and a half of numbness. For him, the body feels fixed. For the Dodgers, the workload still has to match the moment.
That split is the point of the extra start. The club is not reacting to a setback, but it is not rushing a comeback either. Roberts later described a separate roster move with Brock Stewart as short term and said the team was being proactive in how it handled pitching coverage, a reminder that the Dodgers are balancing more than one arm while they map out Snell's path back. Cole Irvin was promoted for Friday night's bullpen game, and Will Smith has been cleared to start his hitting progression, but Snell remains the story because his next outing is now the gate between rehab and activation.
What comes next is straightforward enough. Snell is scheduled to take the ball next Tuesday, and the Dodgers will have one more set of answers after that: whether five innings and 75 pitches are enough, whether his curveball is where it needs to be and whether he finally leaves the rehab trail for good. For now, the delay says as much about the Dodgers' standard as it does about Snell's progress.
