![\"MIAMI,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2274629909-GI.JPG\" "\\"MIAMI,")
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MIAMI, FLORIDA – MAY 8: Robby Snelling #61 of the Miami Marlins pitches in his Major League Baseball debut during the first inning against the Washington Nationals at loanDepot park on May 8, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Leonardo Fernandez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Leonardo Fernandez<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Robby Snelling is generally his harshest critic. The left-handed pitcher, a top prospect in the Miami Marlins\u2019 organization and across Major League Baseball, looks back at every outing with a decisive eye, trying to find every mistake \u2014 no matter how minute \u2014 and look at whatever ways he can improve upon them.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll make a slight exception for his outing on Friday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday,\u201d Snelling said postgame, \u201cis a pretty unique situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snelling made his MLB debut Friday night and the overall outing was serviceable. He held the Washington Nationals to three runs over five innings of work, allowing five hits and four walks while striking out two in Miami\u2019s 3-2 loss.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s far from Snelling\u2019s standards. He\u2019ll quickly admit that. He\u2019ll make sure to correct what went wrong.<\/p>\n
But for right now, in the immediate, he\u2019s not letting the result put a damper on the accomplishment of making it to the big leagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry not to be too hard on myself,\u201d Snelling said. \u201cLook at the really good takeaways.\u201d<\/p>\n
All that said, there were some good takeaways but not before he hit his first rough patch.<\/p>\n
All three runs he gave up \u2014 and both of his strikeouts \u2014 came in the first inning. He began his big-league career by striking out Nationals leadoff hitter James Wood on three pitches before giving up a hard-hit Curtis Mead double to left-center field. After getting a second strikeout, this time against Brady House, Snelling then gave up an RBI single to CJ Abrams and a two-run home run to Jacob Young. The hits by Mead and Abrams were on middle-middle breaking balls. The Young home run came on a middle-in fastball.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty frustrating when in the first inning, I feel like I can put any pitch where I want to, and that\u2019s the inning that I got hurt on,\u201d Snelling said.<\/p>\n
But after that rough first inning, Snelling navigated through his final four innings of work without giving up a run despite a constant stream of traffic.<\/p>\n
He induced two double plays. He generated his share of swing and miss \u2014 12 whiffs on 42 Nationals swings overall. He mixed up his arsenal, going heavy on his breaking ball early instead of relying on his fastball that topped out at 97.2 mph because he anticipated that hitters would expect him to rely on his heater early in his debut.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this is an example of a bad start,\u201d Snelling said, \u201cthat\u2019s pretty good. Go back to the drawing board, throw a good bullpen this week, work on the things I need to work on \u2014 location of different pitches and tunneling different pitches \u2014 and hopefully next week\u2019s a different outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Marlins are hoping that\u2019s the case, too. Snelling is ranked as the No. 2 prospect in Miami\u2019s system and the No. 32 prospect in all of MLB, according to MLB Pipeline. He dominated at Triple A Jacksonville to begin this season, pitching to a 1.86 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 29 innings across six starts. And this was after he made a pretty strong impression during spring training, where he was one of the final roster cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great thing about Robby is he\u2019s really good right now … and he still has a lot of improvement that he can make,\u201d Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said. \u201cHe has true top-of-the-rotation upside. We\u2019re constantly evaluating how we can make our team better, short-term and long-term. The things that Robby\u2019s improved at with the strike throwing, the way he\u2019s dominated at the Triple A level, he\u2019s shown to us that he\u2019s ready for this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The outcome Friday wasn\u2019t what Snelling or the Marlins wanted; the defeat was Miami\u2019s sixth through eight games on this 10-game homestand.<\/p>\n
But Marlins manager Clayton McCullough noted how Snelling \u201cshowed a lot of moxie\u201d in his debut. \u201cI\u2019m sure he had all the emotions going into it,\u201d McCullough said.<\/p>\n
How Snelling responds to the outing will be perhaps more telling about his long-term potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously this is the goal,\u201d Snelling said. \u201cBeing up here and staying up here is the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n