The San Diego Padres are one of the most confounding teams in the MLB today. Despite the considerable amount of talent on their roster, the Padres, at the time of writing, have a 49-53 record, falling way short of expectations. And no other Padres player embodies their confusing season thus far more than southpaw starting pitcher Blake Snell.

Snell, on the surface, has had a solid 2023 season to this point. In fact, he is currently leading the entire MLB in ERA among qualified players, with his 2.61 average leading the way. However, he's also leading the entire league in a statistic he won't exactly be proud of. After walking five players during the Padres' 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night, Snell also raised his league-leading walk total to 64.

Just to put in perspective just how incredibly confusing Blake Snell's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act is, no other player in MLB history has led the entire league in both ERA and total walks since they began tracking earned run averages in the 1913 season, per OptaSTATS. It certainly is a testament to the Padres starter's ability to maintain composure with runners on base that not too many of the baserunners he allows go on to score.

Still, despite Snell's league-leading ERA, these underlying peripherals may not be too promising a sign for the Padres lefty's future. It just shows that he suppresses hard contact (or avoids contact altogether) in higher-leverage situations, which may be a skill in and of itself, but it's fair to wonder just how sustainable this is.

But for now, Padres fans won't mind if Snell continues to confound, for as long as it results in wins as they try to bring themselves back into the playoff picture, however unlikely that may be.