Robby Snelling is about to step onto the biggest stage of his young career. The 22-year-old left-handed pitcher is scheduled to make his Major League debut for the Miami Marlins this Friday, May 8, and the baseball world is taking notice.

Currently ranked as the No. 32 overall prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline and the No. 2 prospect in the Marlins' system, Snelling has been on a steady climb. He joined the Marlins on July 30, 2024, as part of a trade package that sent left-handed reliever Tanner Scott to the Padres. Since then, he has been nothing short of dominant. With Miami's Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville, Snelling posted a sparkling 1.86 ERA—the second-lowest in the International League—along with 44 strikeouts, tied for the second-most in the circuit across six starts.

But before he was a top pitching prospect, Snelling was something else entirely: a two-sport star at Reno McQueen High School in Nevada, where he also terrorized opposing offenses as a standout linebacker.

Let's take a trip back to his high school days, when Snelling was nearly a college two-sport star in a major conference.

On the diamond, Snelling was a force as both a pitcher and hitter. As a senior in 2022, he earned Gatorade Nevada Baseball Player of the Year honors after posting a perfect 8-0 record with an astonishing 0.56 ERA. He set the single-season state strikeouts record with 146 punchouts, and once struck out 20 batters in a seven-inning game—another state record. At the plate, he hit .450 and showed off his raw power by launching 21 home runs at the 2021 All-Star High School Home Run Derby at Coors Field. Oh, and he also touched 94 mph on the radar gun from the mound.

His football career was equally impressive. As a linebacker, Snelling drew serious college interest, and for a time, it looked like he might play both sports at a high level.

Snelling originally committed to Stanford for baseball in 2019, right after his freshman year. But as his football recruitment heated up, he decommitted in 2021 and committed to Arizona to play both baseball and football. However, when Jay Johnson—the coach who first offered Snelling a scholarship when he was in the seventh grade—left Arizona to become the head coach at LSU, Snelling followed. He signed with the Tigers but never made it to campus, opting instead to begin his professional career.

Now, all that raw talent and those early promises are about to pay off. Friday night, the kid from Reno who could have been a two-sport star will take the mound as a big leaguer.