News from the San Francisco Giants: Blake Snell’s no-hitter, 1.64 ERA and 53 K make him NL Pitcher of the Month for August

The headline sums up Blake Snell’s numerous accomplishments on the mound in August, which led MLB to name him NL Pitcher of the Month. It’s the fifth time he’s won the award overall, and his second time in the NL – the last time was in September 2023, when he capped a run that earned him the NL Cy Young.

It is the 18th time a Giant has won the award since its inception in 1975 (trivia answer: Bob Knepper in May 1978 was the first winner) and their youngest pitcher to win the award since Kevin Gausman in May 2021.

Snell’s August wasn’t perfect — a 3-inning, 6-walk outing in Seattle in his second-to-last start of the month was a major blemish — but he was outstanding. He made 6 starts, a number that seemed unlikely considering how his only season with the Giants (prediction!) began. It started, of course, with that no-hitter in Cincinnati, the 18th in team history. It was also his first-ever no-hitter, which seems almost impossible given his quality.

In his report, Sean mentioned

Since returning from the injured list, Snell has been incredibly good. He has thrown 33 innings, has 41 strikeouts, and has allowed just two runs and eight hits. His ERA is down more than five runs and down 55%, from 9.51 when he went on the injured list to 4.29 after tonight.

While the full picture of his season won’t emerge until late September, we’ll attach Sean’s snippet to his entire August. The Giants are now 8-2 in 10 starts since his return on July 9 from a hamstring injury (he’s just 2-0). In 62.1 IP, he has 83 strikeouts, 23 walks, and a 1.30 ERA (2.04 FIP). 228 batters faced against him have a triple slash of .117/.206/.166 against him. During that span, he was worth +2.2 fWAR, just a shade less than Atlanta’s Chris Sale’s 2.3 fWAR (2.33 ERA in 54 IP). The two were the best starters in the sport during that span.

Snell has never looked better in the San Francisco Giants uniform, and showing more than a glimpse of his potential is just further evidence of the team’s recent failure as a whole. A rotation with Blake Snell and Logan Webb at the top would have been a formidable opponent in a short playoff series, but it just wasn’t meant to be. But it’s fun to imagine!

He gets that award in a month when he’s traditionally at his absolute best, a notion that seems hard to grasp after what we’ve seen (mostly) in his last 10 starts. His career September/October split is 16-9 with a 2.25 ERA in 188 IP (37 starts). 247 strikeouts against 72 walks. That works out to an 11.8 K/9 average and a 3.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio – his best single-month showing of his career.

The guy can handle it. He’s kept us entertained for the past month and a half, and if history is any indication, we won’t want to miss what comes next.