Times are tough for Pirates pitchers Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny. Both are relatively young (27 and 26, respectively) and have had some major league success, but something – injury, lack of confidence, playing for the Pirates – has derailed once promising careers.
Last weekend, Gorzelanny and Snell found themselves pitching on back-to-back days for the Indianapolis Indians. On Saturday, Gorzelanny went five innings against Toledo, striking out twelve and allowing four hits. The next day, Snell took the hill against the Mud Hens, walked the first batter he faced, then struck out thirteen in a row. Thirteen. That means he struck out the side in the first, second, third, and four innings. Mike Hessman was the first to make an out in some other way, grounding out to third with one out in the fifth. Snell finished with 17 strikeouts in seven innings.
Barring a trade, the two will have starts coming up later this week, so it should be interesting to see what they do the next time out.
Bus Leagues Baseball 
Posted by gretchenarchangel on July 1, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Where do these guys go when they’re too good for AAA ball, but they’re either not good enough or just simply freaked out (unnerved, psyched out, whatever) for major league ball? Snell was optioned to the Tribe from the Pirates…whether he wanted out to negotiate a trade or was sent down is not especially clear…and Gorzo has been up before – and came right back.
Posted by Extra P on July 2, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Some people I know have compared AAA to purgatory. Most super-prospects spend very little to no time there. It’s the guys who are on the cusp – good enough to fill in while someone rehabs, or keep around to throw into trades – that get stuck there. It kind of sucks, but then again, it’s getting paid to play baseball.