Prospect Alert!

So far this spring the Pittsburgh media has fawned over Zack Duke, our ace of the future. They've demanded Brad Eldred, our masher of the future. Each week it seems Dejan makes sure to put at least one question concerning Graham Koonce and why he hasn't been called up yet, even though he's older than Daryle Ward and Craig Wilson. They've gone out of their way to introduce us to Tom Gorzelanny. One person we've heard little about was Ian Snell. But Ian Snell will be heard. As I'm sure most of you have heard by now, Snell, a 26th round pick in 2000, pitched a no hitter last night for Indianapolis. He struck out 9 and walked only one, raising his record to 6-0 on the year. The knock on Snell is that he's too small to be a full time big league pitcher, at 5'11" 170. That may be true, but you know who else is 5'11" 170? Pedro Martinez. I'm not saying he's the next Pedro, I'm saying it's time to stop dismissing him as a part of our rotation in the future just because he's a little on the small side.