Reno native Robby Snelling’s major-league debut with the Miami Marlins was pretty on par with how he had imagined it would unfold.
“Pretty surreal actually being able to step on the mound, lots of emotions, emotional dump, lots of adrenaline,” Snelling told local Miami reporters after the game. “Usually, looking back on outings I’m a pretty big critic of myself. Today’s a pretty unique situation, so I try not to be too hard on myself. Look at the really good takeaways, be able to understand that I made some good pitches in good spots with guys on base.”
Snelling began his big-league career delivering three straight curve balls for strikes to James Wood, with the latter striking out the Nationals’ leadoff hitter swinging. Snelling allowed a double to Curtis Mead, then struckout Brady House before CJ Abrams hit an RBI single. Jacob Young hit a two-run homer to quickly give the Nationals a 3-0 lead. Snelling threw four shutout innings after the first, allowing just five hits with two strikeouts against four walks. 54 of Snelling’s 84 pitches were strikes in the Marlins’ 3-2 loss.
“Talked to a bunch of guys in the dugout, it’s like pretty frustrating when in the first inning, I feel like I can put any pitch where I want to and that’s the inning that I got hurt on,” Snelling said. “So a guy put a really good swing on the fastball up and in and you know, it’s how it is up here. Being able to go back to the drawing board and be like if that’s a pitch, it’s an inch higher, an inch more inside, like it’s a different outcome. That’s how the ball is up there. So really looking forward to the next one.”
Snelling is MLB’s No. 32 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. He was selected as the 39th overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres and came off a strong 2025 season between Double-A and Triple-A. He posted a 1.86 ERA in six starts in Triple-A with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp this season, striking out an International-League high 44 batters in 29 innings while allowing just 11 hits. He said Friday’s start in Miami wasn’t a great one in his mind and is already looking forward to the next one.
“For this to not be a great start and for me to not get hurt by the runners that were on base after the first inning, being able to limit damage like that, like you got to be able to pat yourself on the back for that,” Snelling said. “So if this is an example of a bad start, you know, that’s pretty good. So be able to go back to the drawing board, throw a good bullpen this week, work on the things I need to work on, location of different pitches and tunneling different pitches and hopefully next week’s a different outcome.”
Snelling said the moment he’ll remember most from his major-league debut is throwing to Nationals’ right fielder Joey Wiemer. He joined Washington this offseason after spending time with Snelling on the same minor-league team in the Marlins’ organization last season. He added he wanted to treat today’s first big-league start like a normal day and spend time on the field during pregame warmups, even though his pregame routine was a little bit different than what he’s used to since the roof was closed in Miami tonight.
“I try and keep everything super light,” Snelling said. “I’m not a starter that comes into the locker room on a start day, and I don’t want anybody to talk to me, I don’t want it to feel any different. So, come in, try and chop it up with the guys, and my thing is kind of going out and I was joking about it, like, the roof being closed today. I try to go out and roam around the outfield, barefoot, and walk around, and usually BP is not going on so and there was no sun out today. Being able to just be outside, be outside of the clubhouse and interact with people. I don’t want to feel isolated on any day. I want to treat it just like a normal day.”