Ever since 2003, I’ve tried very hard to not get excited about starting pitching debuts. Jesse Foppert’s third appearance of that season was his first major league start. Jerome Williams made his debut later in April. Those experiences reset my expectations from “I hope they’re great” to “let’s see if he can avoid embarrassing himself.” Of course, Blake Snell isn’t some rookie/top prospect, he’s the reigning in NL Cy Young. Should that change my stance?
Yes, absolutely. Blake Snell is probably not going to go more than 2-3 innings tonight in his season debut for the San Francisco Giants (probably), but what he represents matters most.