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Last summer GM Jack Zduriencik went out and bought low on Ian Snell. With a couple rough years under his belt after being (perhaps) miscast as an ace and taking major issue with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, the city of Pittsburgh and the fans therein; Snell requested a minor league assignment to get away from the negativity he saw in his former situation.

Snell took out his frustration on AAA hitters, striking out 47 and allowing just 4 earned runs over 37.1 inning en route to a 0.96 ERA (1.81 FIP).  That 6 game stretch also included a start in which he struck out 17 hitters over 7 frames.  Was Snell rejuvenated?  Was he back to being the young stud he was thought to be back in 2006 and 2007?

Seattle bit, opting to bring him over along with shortstop Jack Wilson and cash in exchange for an assortment of medium grade prospects.

But Snell wasn’t really any better with Seattle than he had been with Pittsburgh the last couple of seasons.

As he was last season in the big leagues, Snell is a back of the rotation arm at very best and someone who is a candidate to be demoted to the bullpen.  But if he can max himself out he’s a #3, and maybe even a #2/#3 tweener.

Seattle started getting Snell back on the right track, and it showed a little bit in his last couple of appearances.  They made two minor changes that were easy to point out in unlocking his left knee and pointing his toes a little more towards home plate.  Those are Little League adjustments.

If Snell can hold onto those changes it’ll be a nice foundation to continue his transformation back to respectable big league starter.  But more work is to be done.

Snell throws a four seam fastball, a changeup, and a few variations of a slider.

The heater is his worst pitch.  It’s flat and given that Snell is only about 5’8 and has a short stride, the perceived velocity is much more manageable for hitters than the official 90+ readings.  It’s effective enough when he locates it and moved it around the zone, but it’s not a pitch he can make mistakes with.

His changeup is decent, but it is so similar to his breaking balls in terms of velocity and sink that he doesn’t fool hitters with it.  When he throws it at the knees it gets good sinking action though.

His breaking balls are interesting.  He throws a tight slider, a loopier slurve thing and then various breaking pitches that slot in between those two.  All of them can be pretty effective, and it is by far his best swing and miss pitch.  Well, it’s his only swing and miss pitch.

Jeff Clarke wrote a ton about Snell over at Seattle Sports Insider last summer, and he had some interesting ideas as to how to get Snell back on track.  One of the things he discussed a few times was Snell’s need to change the hitters’ eye level.  He notes that Snell consistently works at the bottom of the strikezone with his fastball (pitch f/x scatter plots and my own recollection confirm this), which seems good on its own but considering that he doesn’t throw a sinking fastball and that hitters know that when he’s throwing the heat it’s going to be near the knees, he gets pounded.  So he nibbles, which gets him to trouble with the counts.  And when he’s not getting the bottom of the strikezone from the umpire he’s in real trouble.

So moving the fastball up and down the strikezone could help keep him from nibbling and out a trouble a bit, and could help him generate a few more swings and misses with the fastball as well.  It’s great that he can locate at the knees, but only locating at the knees doesn’t do a lot of good, and when a pitcher misses down there there’s a good change he’s missing right in a hitter’s wheelhouse.

Another thing that I think is important for him is to get strike one.  That sounds basic and cliche, but given how ineffective his fastball is it’s important. As you may expect, Snell relies heavily on his fastball whenever he is behind in the count, and that tends to lead to nibbling (balls) and line drives.  If he can just find a way to get to 0-1 counts he’ll be in good shape, as he can move to throwing his slider and changeup for most of the pitches through the end of the at bat.  Easier said than done when you have a crappy fastball, I suppose.

Clarke also suggested that he add another secondary offering that differentiates in speed from this change and slider– a slow curve– and throwing his fastball less often, a la Gil Meche.  I’m on board, but I have a hard time seeing Snell adding a pitch for 2010, especially since we haven’t heard anything about it.  Maybe something to look for in 2011 if 2010 doesn’t go as planned.

Hopefully we get a more consistent Ian Snell in 2010.  We all know the Mariners need it.  Cross your fingers.