FanPost

This is exactly why Ian Snell drives Pirate management and fans crazy


To say Ian Snell has underperformed for the last two years (since the 2007 All-Star break) is quite the understatement. The disappointment finally reached its peak this season as Snell had a 2-8 record --an 11-27 overall record since that All-Star break-- with a 5.36 ERA in 15 starts before being demoted, at his request, to Triple-A Indianapolis on Thursday. Snell was consistently walking a lot of batters, being terribly inefficient by going deep in the count with a lot of hitters and throwing 100+ pitches by the fourth or fifth inning in seemingly every start and letting the big inning (as well as an alarming number of pitches) lead to his all-too-common early exits. Today was Snell's first start for the Indianapolis Indians on his road back to the big leagues --although it is yet to be seen if his next big league start will be in a Pirate uniform-- and he promptly threw seven innings of shutout ball, allowing two hits and walking one while striking out seventeen hitters. Huh? What? How? Where was that kind of effort the last two seasons?? Enter any headscratching question here. For far too long, Snell has been getting pounded in the big leagues --the pounding has been coming from hitters and himself-- and quite frankly, looking like he should be doing something else for a living, and then, in his first Triple-A start, he doesn't allow anything while walking only one and striking out seventeen, all while the other team was probably wondering, "Why the heck is this guy in Triple-A?"

The world must be coming to an end! Yes, I know it was Triple-A, but the level of competition doesn't have anything to do with control. Snell walked only one batter. That is definitely a step in the right direction. Oh, and 17 strikeouts?!?! I don't care if you're in high school, striking out 17 batters is hard to do and it shows just how good a pitcher's stuff really is. This start for Snell today was the Ian Snell that Pirate fans --and management-- have been expecting since he had that breakout 2006 season. Snell has the stuff. There's no question about that. Just when management and fans start to think that maybe Snell's best bet is to be a middle relief pitcher out of the bullpen, he goes out and throws a spectacular 7-inning gem on Sunday afternoon. What gives? Why can't he do this with the Pirates? We probably won't ever know what has happened to him in the last two seasons. Has it been the pressure to live up to the expectations of being labeled the "ace" of this young staff? Has it been all the negativity that has piled up from the media and fans from not even coming close to reaching those expectations? Only Snell can answer that, and even he may not know the answer himself. But what I do know is that Snell needs to just forget about all that stuff, block it out and start pitching like he knows he can. He doesn't belong in Triple-A. He has major league stuff, and that is exactly why Snell has caused so many headaches and headscratching among the team and the fans of Pittsburgh. He's got to get it together mentally, and that's where the problems start.

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