Not so fast

At first blush, one would think that the Texas Rangers should have Mitchell High High School (near Tampa, Fla.) senior Patrick Schuster high on their draft list. After all, Schuster will be on the mound today as Mitchell plays in the opening round of Florida's high school baseball playoffs and he will be going for his fifth consecutive no-hitter.

According to reports, Schuster has 90-mile-an-hour fastball, "a nasty slider and curve, each of which he trusts enough to throw on 3-2 counts." He has struck out 60 during his current string of four consecutive no-hitters.

Here's the deal, however: Two other high school pitchers threw six consecutive no-hitters -- Chris Taranto in Mississippi in 1961 and Tom Engle in Ohio in 1989 -- and neither of them became major league stalwarts.