Blake Snell has one more box to check before Dodgers return

Blake Snell doesn’t really use his ring or pinky fingers to manipulate his throws when he pitches.

So, even as he had felt numbness in the digits the last couple years, he didn’t really think much of it.

“I couldn’t feel these fingers,” he said Friday, pointing to the outer two extremities on his left throwing hand. “They were kind of numb, but I don’t need them, so I didn’t really care.”

At least, that’s how Snell felt before he underwent a surgical procedure earlier this year to remove bone chips from his elbow.

Now, he realizes just how compromised his arm had been by the issue –– from his elbow, to his shoulder, all the way down to the tips of his hand.

“It’s the best I’ve felt in three years by far,” the Dodgers’ ace declared, now two months removed from his surgery and on the verge of returning to the team’s starting rotation. “Shoulder feels great. Elbow feels great. Body feels great. I’ve been able to rest, heal.”

Snell has one last box to check before he rejoins the Dodgers.

After a promising performance in his third minor-league rehab start on Wednesday (four scoreless innings with single-A Ontario with nine strikeouts), the two-time Cy Young winner is scheduled to complete his recovery process in a five-inning outing with triple-A Oklahoma City next Tuesday.

There was a thought Snell could be ready to be activated by next week. But earlier this season, his elbow flared up on him after an initial rehab assignment –– as part of his recovery from offseason shoulder pain –– was cut one start short. 

Thus, “I’m not going to argue it,” Snell quipped. “I did last time and I got hurt. So, yeah, I’m going to shut up.”

Instead, Snell is hopeful his improved health will do the talking once he is back on a major-league mound.

Now free of the physical limitations he battled last year, when his ailing shoulder sidelined him for much of the regular season and gradually diminished his initially dominant form in the playoffs, the $182 million signing believes he’s primed for a strong run down the stretch.

“[My mechanics now are] way better,” he said, while mimicking his release in front of his locker. “I can release the ball out here now.”

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The 33-year-old is hopeful that will allow him to rediscover the best version of himself, and no longer force him to compensate for his aching shoulder pain. Or, for that matter, his lingering finger numbness, which he said was caused by the loose bodies in his elbow pressing up against a nerve.

“Once they came out,” he said of his bone chips, which were removed using the revolutionary NanoNeedle surgical procedure, “I was like, ‘Wow, I can feel my fingers.’”

More importantly, he added, “my shoulder pain went completely away,” as well.

So far in his rehab stint, Snell has been pleased with his ability to get swing-and-miss with his fastball at the top of the strike zone, tunnel a steadily improving curveball off of it to put hitters away, and maintain more consistency with his trademark changeup and slider.

“I just have way more range [of motion],” he said. “I’m finally getting out there again [with my extension].”

Now, it sets up a closing act for this season that will be similar to last year –– when Snell returned from his shoulder injury in August, posted a 2.41 ERA in his final nine regular starts, then threw three playoff gems (seven innings, two runs in the wild card round, six scoreless innings in the division series, and eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in the National League Championship Series) before battling shoulder pain again in the World Series.

The only difference now, he noted with a grin: “I’m healthy.”

For a Dodgers team banking on improved rotation health to carry it to a third-straight World Series, it could prove to be a massive development.