Blake Snell to have elbow surgery, but Dodgers hope for ‘quicker recovery’

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell is set to undergo surgery next Tuesday to remove loose bodies from his elbow, according to manager Dave Roberts, but there is optimism he could return sooner than the 2-3 months such procedures typically require.

While the exact nature of the operation Snell will have next week is still being determined, multiple sources told The California Post that there is hope he will be able to utilize a new medical technology called the NanoNeedle Scope 2.0 — which is a smaller version of a typical arthroscope that allows for less invasive procedures and a potentially faster recovery time.

On May 6, two-time reigning American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal became the first known major-league pitcher to have such a procedure, which was performed by renowned sports surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache (who is the Dodgers’ head team physician and will also perform Snell’s surgery).

Already, Skubal is back to playing catch. And according to The Post’s Jon Heyman, he could return in as little as six weeks.

Snell’s exact timeline won’t be clear until his surgery is completed, according to sources. But Roberts said “it’s supposed to be a lot quicker recovery,” citing the surgical options that would be available for the 33-year-old pitcher.

Snell had a more traditional loose-body removal to address the same elbow problem in 2019 while he was playing with the Rays. That year, he missed two months before returning to the mound.

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz also had loose bodies removed from his elbow last month. He is expected to be sidelined until the second half of the year.

The reason Snell’s current situation makes him a candidate for the NanoNeedle procedure, one source said, is because of where the loose bodies in his elbow are located.

As ElAttrache explained in an interview with The Athletic while discussing Skubal’s recent surgery, the NanoNeedle method also has little downside. If it’s unable to remedy the problem, a traditional arthroscope can still be used instead.

Snell will certainly be hoping to return as fast as possible.

Already this year, he had missed more than a month to begin the campaign while recovering from offseason shoulder fatigue, which stemmed from a shoulder injury that cost him four months during his debut campaign with the Dodgers in 2025.

He only made his season debut last weekend, pitching three innings in a loss to the Atlanta Braves.

While the Dodgers had Snell take his time with his build-up process this year –– hoping to avoid another elongated absence like he experienced last year –– the left-hander ultimately returned to the active roster a week sooner than expected, skipping a final scheduled minor-league rehab outing after Tyler Glasnow went on the injured list with back spasms.

Now that they are without both Snell and Glasnow, the Dodgers are facing their first true pitching crunch of the season, down to just five healthy starters.

They are hopeful of getting Glasnow back in the somewhat near future, though he has been limited to only flat-ground catch play in recent days and likely remains at least a couple weeks away from returning.

Former top prospect River Ryan is their best option to call up from Triple-A. But he recently missed a month on the minor-league injured list with a hamstring problem and has made just three outings this year in his return from a Tommy John surgery.

Thus, the Dodgers might have to roll with just a five-man rotation for now — which presents complications as they work around the roughly one-start-per-week schedule of their three Japanese pitchers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani.

It could result in an added short-term strain on their bullpen, which had to cover all nine innings of Friday’s game after Snell was scratched.

But if things go as the Dodgers hope, Snell might not be out as long as initially feared, raising the possibility of their pitching staff getting back to full strength at some point this summer.

“He said he was just excited to have a date on the calendar [for the surgery],” Roberts said of Snell, whom he has communicated with via text, “to get it taken care of, get back to playing catch and getting back to joining us.”

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