Robert Matthew Snelling (born December 19, 2003) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

organization.

Amateur career

Snelling attended

Robert McQueen High School Robert McQueen High School is a public secondary school in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is part of the Washoe County School District. History The school was named for Dr. Robert McQueen, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Ne ...

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

, where he played on both the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team as a pitcher and on the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, the latter of which his father was head coach of. 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. He was named Region Player of the Year following his senior football season. As a senior for the baseball team in 2022, he struck out 145 batters while also batting .450. He broke the state record for strikeouts in a game with twenty in a seven-inning game. He also set a new state single-season record for strikeouts. He finished the season 8-0 with a 0.56 ERA and 145 strikeouts alongside batting .362 with six home runs, and was named the Gatorade Nevada Baseball Player of the Year. Following the season's end, he traveled to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

where he participated in the Draft Combine. Snelling originally committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

at the end of his freshman year of high school, but decommitted during his junior year after he began also getting recruited for football. He then committed to play both baseball and football for the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

, but decommitted when baseball coach Jay Johnson left to coach the LSU Tigers. Snelling then committed to LSU to play baseball.

Professional career

San Diego Padres

Snelling was selected by the San Diego Padres with the 39th overall selection of the

2022 Major League Baseball draft The 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on July 17–19, 2022, in Los Angeles. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was based on the reverse order of the 2021 ...

. He signed with the team for $3 million. To begin the 2023 season, Snelling was assigned to the Lake Elsinore Storm of the Single-A

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...

. In late June, he was promoted to the Fort Wayne TinCaps of the

High-A High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

. In mid-August, he was promoted to the

San Antonio Missions The San Antonio Missions are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in San Antonio, Texas, and are named for the Spanish missions around which the city was founded. ...

of the Double-A

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. Over 22 starts between the three teams, Snelling went 11-3 with a 1.82 ERA and 118 strikeouts over innings. Snelling was assigned back to San Antonio to open the 2024 season. Snelling was selected to represent the Padres (alongside Ethan Salas) in the

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League ...

Globe Life Field Globe Life Field is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers. It is located just south of Choctaw Stadium, the Rangers' former home ballpark. History Background On May ...

Miami Marlins

On July 30, 2024, the Padres traded Snelling, Graham Pauley,

Adam Mazur Adam McKinnlee Mazur (born April 20, 2001) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the San Diego Padres. Early life and amateur career Mazur grew up ...

, and Jay Beshears to the

in exchange for

Bryan Hoeing Bryan Jerome Hoeing (born October 19, 1996) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022. Amateur career Hoeing attended Batesville High School in Batesville, I ...

and

Tanner Scott Tanner Alexander Scott (born July 22, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 2017. Amateur career Scott graduated from Howland ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snelling, Robby 2003 births Living people Baseball players from Reno, Nevada Baseball pitchers Arizona Complex League Padres players Lake Elsinore Storm players Fort Wayne TinCaps players San Antonio Missions players Pensacola Blue Wahoos players