Snelling was a four-star football recruit as a linebacker who led Robert McQueen High School in Reno, Nev. to the state championship game as a senior...Named Region Player of the Year following the season...His father, Jim, has been the head football coach at McQueen since 2009...Originally committed to play college baseball for the Stanford Cardinal at the end of his freshman year of high school, but decommitted during his junior year after he began getting recruited for football...Received 15 full-ride football scholarship offers from the likes of Notre Dame, Oregon, UCLA, Nebraska, Virginia and Ole Miss...He then committed to play both baseball and football for the Arizona Wildcats, but decommitted when baseball coach Jay Johnson left to coach the LSU Tigers, where he then committed to LSU to play baseball...Earned Gatorade Nevada Baseball Player of the Year honors as a senior in 2022, going 8-0 with a 0.56 ERA and a state-record 145 strikeouts against six walks, while also batting .362 with six home runs...He broke the state record for strikeouts in a game with 20 in a seven-inning game...During the summer of 2021, he participated in the High School All-American Game as well as in the All-Star High School Home Run Derby at Coors Field, where he hit 21 home runs, ranking fourth among the eight competitors...After being drafted 39th overall in 2022, he focused solely on baseball for his first time at extended Spring Training and the fall instructional league in Arizona, working on training and nutritional changes to help shave weight he had built as a football recruit.
2025
Entered 2025 as Miami's No. 7 prospect per Baseball America and named the Miami Marlins 2025 Pitcher of the Year after completing his first full season in the organization...Compiled a 9-7 record and 2.51 ERA (38 ER/136.0 IP) in 25 starts between Triple-A Jacksonville (11 starts) and Double-A Pensacola (14 starts) with one complete game, 39 walks, and an organization-most 166 strikeouts...Also led Marlins' farmhands in ERA, starts, innings pitched and WHIP (1.11) while ranking second in opponents AVG (.222)...Took home multiple additional accolades, including two Southern League Pitcher of the Week awards (May 25 and June 29), International League Pitcher of the Month for August, Baseball America Triple-A All-Star honors, International League Postseason All-Star honors, and the Rawlings MiLB Gold Glove award at pitcher...Named International League Pitcher of the Month for August after allowing just five runs (three earned) in 30 innings over five starts with a 0.90 ERA and 3-1 record...Had two scoreless outings and struck out 38 batters against nine walks in this span...At the time of his promotion to Triple-A Jacksonville on July 9, ranked tied for fourth in the Southern League in strikeouts (85), seventh in WHIP (1.22), 11th in ERA (3.61), and 13th in opponents AVG (.238) and 14th in innings pitched (72.1)...Made his Triple-A debut on July 10 vs. Norfolk, tossing five scoreless innings with four hits, three walks and three strikeouts...Held opponents to two earned runs or fewer in all 11 of his starts at the Triple-A level through the end of the regular season...Led all Triple-A pitchers with 81 strikeouts and in ERA (1.27, nine ER/63.2 IP)...Of his 11 starts with Triple-A, eight of them were quality starts, all consecutively from July 26-Sept. 9...Struck out a professional career-high 13 batters in a career-high seven-inning complete game performance on Sept. 3 at Charlotte...Marked the most strikeouts for a Jumbo Shrimp pitcher since 2019...From July 10 to the end of the regular season, led all Triple-A pitchers with 81 strikeouts while posting the best ERA (1.27)...Started Game 1 of the International League Championship Series vs. Scranton Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 23...Allowed four runs on five hits over five innings pitched with two walks and eight strikeouts but did not factor in the decision...Also appeared in relief in the Triple-A National Championship Game on Sept. 27 at Las Vegas (0.2 IP, one H, two R/two ER, one BB, one K, one HR)...Became fifth Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp to earn a Gold Glove, handling 17 chances without an error in 136 innings at the position...Finished the year ranked Miami's No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline and MLB's No. 51 overall prospect.
2024
Entered 2024 rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 3 left-handed pitching prospect, No. 3 prospect in SD’s farm system and No. 36 overall prospect in all of baseball. Was also rated as the No. 3 prospect in SD’s farm system and No. 27 prospect overall by Baseball America, No. 59 overall by ESPN.com and No. 72 overall by The Athletic...Was acquired by Miami on July 30 from San Diego with RHP Adam Mazur, INF Graham Pauley and INF Jay Beshears in exchange for LHP Tanner Scott and RHP Bryan Hoeing...Combined to go 4-10 with a 5.15 ERA (66 ER/115.1 IP) in 24 starts across Double-A San Antonio (16 starts), Double-A Pensacola (seven starts) and Triple-A Jacksonville (one start)…In 16 starts with Double-A San Antonio to start his season, went 2-8 with a 6.01 ERA (49 ER/73.1 IP), 33 walks and 67 strikeouts. Opponents batted .309 (90-for-291) against him...Was selected to participate in the All-Star Futures Game. Retired the only batter he faced...In seven starts with Double-A Pensacola following the trade, went 2-2 with a 4.00 ERA (16 ER/36.0 IP), 11 walks and 41 strikeouts. Opponents batted .236 (33-for-140) against him...Earned his first win in the Marlins organization on Aug. 10 at Mississippi. Tossed 5.0 scoreless innings of one-hit ball with seven strikeouts...Struck out a season-high nine batters on Aug. 17 vs. Montgomery. Matched that strikeout total again on Sept. 12 vs. Montgomery...Made his final start of the season with the Jumbo Shrimp, marking his first career Triple-A action. Allowed two runs (one earned run) on seven hits with one walk and seven strikeouts over 6.0 innings pitched.
2023
Began his professional career with Single-A Lake Elsinore and did not allow more than 1 earned run in 9 of his 11 starts for the Storm, leading to a 5-1 record, 1.57 ERA (9 ER, 51.2 IP), 1.01 WHIP and a 59-to-13 SO/BB ratio before his promotion to High-A Fort Wayne, and later Double-A San Antonio...Earned the win in three consecutive starts from April 21-May 5, allowing 2 ER across 15.0 IP (1.20 ERA) while limiting hitters to a .160 AVG...Earned California League Pitching of the Week honors on May 9, and his production at Lake Elsinore earned Cal League Pitcher of the Year and Post-Season All-Star honors...Promoted to Fort Wayne on June 27, where he allowed 2 ER-or-fewer in six of his seven starts, including 1 ER-or-fewer in four of the seven…he went 4-2 with a 2.34 ERA (9 ER, 34.2 IP) and a 40-to-11 SO/BB ratio...Posted his second three-start win streak of the campaign from July 25-Aug. 8, allowing just one ER across 16.0 IP (0.56 ERA) with a 20-to-2 SO/BB ratio and .197 opp. AVG over the stretch...Promoted to SA on Aug. 22, where he was nearly six years younger than the average Double-A player, and allowed 1 ER-or-fewer in all four of his regular season starts for the Missions, going 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA (3 ER, 17.1 IP) and a .190 opp. AVG...In his 2nd start with SA on Aug. 30, he teamed up with Ethan Salas, the widely ranked top catching prospect in baseball, as the batterymate for 5.0 hitless frames with nine strikeouts in the Missions’ 9-2 win over Wichita...Concluded his season with getting the ball for the Game 1 start in the Texas League semifinals against Amarillo on Sept. 19, allowing three ER across 4.0 innings in SA’s 12-11 extra-inning win…it was their lone win in the series before dropping Games 2 & 3…he allowed two HR in the contest, which were half as many as the four HR he allowed during his 22 regular season starts...Since 2000, just seven teenage Minor League pitchers have recorded a sub-2.00 ERA in 100 innings-or-more…Snelling is joined on the list by Cole Hamels (2003), Will Inman (2006), Madison Bumgarner (2008), Michael Piñeda (2008), Jose Fernandez (2012) and Andrew Painter (2022)…among that group, Painter and Snelling were the only 2 to reach Double-A...Snelling is the second-ever Baseball America Minor League Pitcher of the Year (also: Andrew Painter in ’22)…of the 20 Baseball America Minor League Players of the Year from 2001-21, just four were pitchers: Josh Beckett (2001), Jeff Francis (2004), Jeremy Hellickson (2010) and Blake Snell (2015)….the volume and games played advantage offered by a top position player was the main reason why Baseball America introduced a Minor League Pitcher of the Year award in ’22, to acknowledge the best season by a pitching prospect...Following the season, Snelling also garnered the Padres internal Minor League Pitcher of the Year accolade.
2022
Began his professional career with Single-A Lake Elsinore and did not allow more than one earned run in nine of his 11 starts for the Storm, leading to a 5-1 record, 1.57 ERA (9 ER, 51.2 IP), 1.01 WHIP and a 59-to-13 SO/BB ratio before his promotion to High-A Fort Wayne, and later Double-A San Antonio...Earned the win in three consecutive starts from April 21-May 5, allowing two ER across 15.0 IP (1.20 ERA) while limiting hitters to a .160 AVG...Earned California League Pitching of the Week honors on May 9, and his production at Lake Elsinore earned Cal League Pitcher of the Year and Post-Season All-Star honors...Promoted to Fort Wayne on June 27, where he allowed two ER-or-fewer in six of his seven starts, including one ER-or-fewer in four of the seven…he went 4-2 with a 2.34 ERA (9 ER, 34.2 IP) and a 40-to-11 SO/BB ratio...Posted his second three-start win streak of the campaign from July 25-Aug. 8, allowing just one ER across 16.0 IP (0.56 ERA) with a 20-to-2 SO/BB ratio and .197 opp. AVG over the stretch...Promoted to SA on Aug. 22, where he was nearly six years younger than the average Double-A player, and allowed one ER-or-fewer in all four of his regular season starts for the Missions, going 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA (3 ER, 17.1 IP) and a .190 opp. AVG...In his second start with SA on August 30, he teamed up with Ethan Salas, the widely ranked top catching prospect in baseball, as the batterymate for 5.0 hitless frames with nine strikeouts in the Missions’ 9-2 win over Wichita...Concluded his season with getting the ball for the Game 1 start in the Texas League semifinals against Amarillo on Sept. 19, allowing three ER across 4.0 innings in SA’s 12-11 extra-inning win…it was their lone win in the series before dropping Games 2 & 3…he allowed two HR in the contest, which were half as many as the four HR he allowed during his 22 regular season starts...Since 2000, just seven teenage Minor League pitchers have recorded a sub-2.00 ERA in 100 innings-or-more…Snelling is joined on the list by Cole Hamels (2003), Will Inman (2006), Madison Bumgarner (2008), Michael Piñeda (2008), Jose Fernandez (2012) and Andrew Painter (2022)…among that group, Painter and Snelling were the only two to reach Double-A...Snelling is the second-ever Baseball America Minor League Pitcher of the Year (also: Andrew Painter in ’22)…of the 20 Baseball America Minor League Players of the Year from 2001-21, just four were pitchers: Josh Beckett (2001), Jeff Francis (2004), Jeremy Hellickson (2010) and Blake Snell (2015)….the volume and games played advantage offered by a top position player was the main reason why Baseball America introduced a Minor League Pitcher of the Year award in ’22, to acknowledge the best season by a pitching prospect...Following the season, Snelling also garnered the Padres internal Minor League Pitcher of the Year accolade.
