He has been heralded as a once in a generation type of talent. He's said to have not only one, but at least three exceptional "out" pitches: the fastball of Nolan Ryan, the curve ball of Sandy Koufax, and the changeup of Pedro Martinez. And while most young pitchers lack control of their pitches and lack poise on the mound, he appears to have both at only 22 years old.
He has made only 9 major league starts, but is already conjuring up Hall of Fame discussions, not to mention the media ruckus that came up when he was not selected to the All-Star team this year.
He is Stephen Strasburg, and he has generated so much excitement that every day he starts on the mound is called "Strasmus" in Washington D.C.
Here's what he had done this year prior to heading to the mound Wednesday night:
GS W-L IP H ER BB SO ERA WHIP
8 4-2 48.2 36 11 14 68 2.03 1.03
So I took the chance to go see him pitch last night since the Nationals were in town for a 4-game series. I call it "Strasmus in July."
Strasburg pitched well against the Reds and his offense backed him up as they took a 7-1 lead into the bottom of the 6th inning. But the Reds got to Strasburg for two runs in the inning and he was lifted for a reliever. The Nats held on for the 8-5 victory and Strasburg picked up the win, the 5th of his young career. But before they got to him, he was pretty impressive, striking out 7 batters and making them look foolish at times. He rung up one guy on a 99-mph fastball and another on an 81-mph looping Bugs Bunny curveball. You just can't hit that kind of stuff.
His line:
Dec IP H R ER BB SO Pit-St ERA
W, 5-2 5.2 7 3 3 1 7 97-63 2.32
So now I can add Stephen Strasburg to the list of pitchers that I have seen live. Who knows? Maybe one day he will be among the list of the all-time greats...
I really wish that guy at the bottom had moved out of the way on that last photo. That could have been a really good one...
No comments:
Post a Comment