Ian Snell

From BR Bullpen

Ian Dante Snell (played as Ian Oquendo from 2001-2003)

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 5' 11", Weight 170 lb.

High School Caesar Rodney High School
Debut August 20, 2004
Born October 30, 1981 in Dover, DE USA

[edit] Biographical Information

In high school, Ian Snell was involved in many sports. In football, he was a running back, quarterback, cornerback and safety. He was a sprinter on the track team and played shooting guard for the basketball team. Drafted in the 26th round of the 2000 amateur draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Snell went 1-0 with a 2.35 ERA in 4 relief appearances with the GCL Pirates.

Ian got married and took his wife's name, becoming Ian Oquendo in 2001. He went 3-0, 0.47 for the GCL Pirates and 7-0, 1.39 for the Williamsport Crosscutters to emerge as a prospect. He walked 15 batters in 84 innings. In the New York-Penn League, he was second in ERA behind Ross Peoples and made the All-Star team.

In his third professional season, Oquendo finally lost a game. Pitching for the Hickory Crawdads, he went 11-6 with a 2.71 ERA at age 21 and fanned 149 batters in 140 frames. He was 8th in the South Atlantic League in ERA that season. In 2003, Oquendo was 10-3 with a 3.33 ERA (9th in the Carolina League) for the Lynchburg Hillcats, fanning 122 and walking 33 in 116 innings. Promoted to the Altoona Curve, Ian went 4-0 wit ha 1.96 ERA; after four seasons in baseball he was 32-9. He was named the Pirates' Minor League Pitcher of the Year and the 9th-best prospect in the Carolina League.

In 2004, the 23-year-old righthander changed his name back to Ian Snell. After an 11-7, 3.16 season for Altoona, Ian was named to the Eastern League All-Star team as the right-handed pitcher. He was sixth in the EL in ERA and managers picked him as the 19th-best prospect. Given a cup of coffee in the late-season call-ups, Snell appeared in three games for Pittsburgh, with an 0-1 record and a 7.50 ERA.

Spending the majority of the 2005 season with the Indianapolis Indians, Ian went 11-3, 3.70 with 104 Ks and 23 walks in 112 innings, with opponents hitting .216 against him. He was 1-2, 5.14 in 15 games for Pittsburgh.

Placed in the Pirates' starting rotation in 2006, Ian was the lone African-American player on the team, a far cry from the Pirates of 27 years earlier, who had 10 black players or of 35 years earlier, when they used the first all-black lineup in baseball history. Later in the year, he was joined by Shawn Chacon and Rajai Davis. Snell went 14-11 with a 4.74 ERA for the Pirates that year and his K/9 rate of 8.2 was 10th in the 2006 NL but he led the club with 29 homers allowed. Snell was named "Delaware Athlete of the Year" by the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association.

Snell missed a start in June 2007 after burning his hand while cooking chicken. He finished the season with a 9-12 record but topped the Pirate' starters in ERA (3.76) and innings pitched (208). The Bill James Handbook reported that 35.5% of Snell's pitches in 2007 were sliders, the most in the NL.

In March of 2008, Snell signed a 3-year extension with two teams options for $8 million guaranteed.

Sources include "Look around, it's just me" by Dejan Kovacevic in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/9/06, 2001-2006 Baseball Almanacs