The Stephen Strasburg era begins today

[Nat of the Living Dead]

He is young. I mean, when Ryan Zimmerman refers a guy twice in the the same interview as being a good kid, you know he's young.

Thank God. For a moment, I was thinking I was old.

[The Chief]

Thank God. For a moment, I was thinking I was old.

You ARE old

[Nat of the Living Dead]

You ARE old

[imref]

Riggs says today that Strasburg is likely heading to the minors to start the season - Potomac would be a nice fit. :-)

[spidernat]

Riggs says today that Strasburg is likely heading to the minors to start the season - Potomac would be a nice fit. :-)

link to ESPN article on it

[JCA-CrystalCity]

And the weekly "what Cafardo says other people are saying about Strasburg" quote from the Boston Globe (boston.com) notes column:

8. Stephen Strasburg, RHP, Nationals - Baseball people are lining up for his appearance in Viera, Fla., Tuesday night against the Tigers. “Really, not sure what there is to see,’’ said one NL scout. “The kid is going to be a great one if he stays healthy. As someone who watched big bonus babies like Mark Prior and Ben McDonald, I can tell you, Strasburg is cut from a different mold. There’s no entitlement with this kid. He works hard and takes nothing for granted. He’s got great makeup.’’

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I did a little math and, if Strasburg pitches every 5th day after 3/9, then he is lined up to pitch the exhibition against the Red Sox, open the season for the P-Nats on 4/8, and pitch in Bowie for Harrisburg on 4/13.  4/18 is a choice:  Spot start the first time the 5th starter is needed at home vs. Milwaukee, or pitch a home game for Harrisburg v. New Britain.  The thing is, he is set up for 4/3 and for 4/18 if he blows everyone away this spring.

It looks like Syracuse has a lot of home games in May.  I could see him either sticking with Harrisburg maybe for another start or two after 4/18 (road, I think) and then moving onto Syracuse, or perhaps some more shuffling between the Nats, P-Nats, and Harrisburg to avoid cold weather until May.

[Kevrock]

Tomorrow I'm going to start another thread called "The Stephen Strasburg era begins today".

Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow.

[imref]

This is a must read article, Jayson Stark was blown away by Strasburg's stuff Tuesday:

http://www.federalbaseball.com/2010/3/10/1367272/washington-nationals-stephen

Jayson Stark: "After watching a 96-98 fastball, throwing a fastball right by Miguel Cabrera when he's looking fastball. After watching a change up at 90-91. After watching him throw a 3-2 breaking ball for an outing-ending strikeout. After watching the delivery. After watching how he conducted himself, and after talking to people about him. Running that outing past the scouts who were there, they used words like 'special', 'real deal'. You know, he pitched against Rick Porcello, right? Another one of the best young pitchers in baseball. I had a scout tell me he made Rick Porcello look like he was playing catch with his sister. And then I talked the hitters, and Miguel Cabrera said, 'When he throws the ball it's like an explosion.' How bout that line? And then we asked Miguel Cabrera, 'Do you think his future can possibly be as bright as people say it is,?' and here's what he said, 'Oh...my...God.' So, what do you want me to tell you, it was great."

He's never thrown a pitch in the minor leagues, and they're also faced with this worry, you don't want a guy to be the face of your franchise who's never actually pitched for your franchise. And they're trying to tone it down, the problem is, this spring, do you know what the batting average is against all the pitchers on their team not named Stephen Strasburg? How bout .396? And then this guy goes out there and blows through the middle of the Tigers' real batting order. If he keeps throwing up zeroes, what are they gonna do? What are they gonna say? I mean Jim Riggleman said, 'We're not going to announce that he's going to the minor leagues cause he might make us eat those words.'"

There are reactions by others at the above URL.

[CJames0569]

If he continues to pitch like this it will be really hard to send him down, but I still think we should wait at the earliest to call him up when we need a fifth starter. Having him come north with the team out of spring training will put too much pressure on the kid and could prove to be too much even for him if he gets knocked around a bit (which is bound to happen, because it happens to everyone).

[imref]

Strasburg's next start is Sunday against St. Louis.  Can't wait to see him go against Albert.

[Nathan]

Strasburg's next start is Sunday against St. Louis.  Can't wait to see him go against Albert.

I kinda want to see him take Strasburg yard.  I want to see how he can recompose himself in that situation.  Will he keep pitching well and get over it or will it get in his head and throw him off for the rest of the day.

[imref]

I kinda want to see him take Strasburg yard.  I want to see how he can recompose himself in that situation.  Will he keep pitching well and get over it or will it get in his head and throw him off for the rest of the day.

I have to disagree, I'd rather see Albert staring at another of those sinkers that froze the Tigers on Tuesday.

[imref]

Adam Kilgore at natsjournal speculates that Stras will go to minor league camp after sunday's start as the nats will focus on getting their rotation into shape.  I guess we'll know if he's got a shot to make the roster by whether or not they commit to giving him another start after Sunday (the next turn for him would be 3/19 at the Yankees).

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Strasburg's next start is Sunday against St. Louis.  Can't wait to see him go against Albert.

The rainouts the past two days complicate matters.  Fewer innings available to get pitchers ready means fewer that can be spent keeping options open.  I think if he pitches Sunday may be enough of an indication that they are not ruling him out of an early season call up, rather than needing to wait until the next start after.

[imref]

The rainouts the past two days complicate matters.  Fewer innings available to get pitchers ready means fewer that can be spent keeping options open.  I think if he pitches Sunday may be enough of an indication that they are not ruling him out of an early season call up, rather than needing to wait until the next start after.

i thought i read that the rainouts don't matter because they still have the pitchers throw simultaneous games?

[tomterp]

i thought i read that the rainouts don't matter because they still have the pitchers throw simultaneous games?

Nothing like the real thing.

[imref]

Stras is going to get another start on Friday.

[Kevrock]

Not sure if this GIF has been posted anywhere:

[PANatsFan]

Stras is going to get another start on Friday.

Interesting. I'm likely going to be at the Altoona series when he'll start his first pro game.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

He posted that on March 15th before his last start.

[JMUalumni]

ESPN has a frontpage article on Stras:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview10/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=5039958

[hammondsnats]

ESPN has a frontpage article on Stras:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview10/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=5039958

Outstanding piece of writing by Crasnick.  Usually not a big fan of his writing (or most of ESPN.com's baseball guys sans Tim Kurkjian - who is one of the best), but he produced a well researached and thought out column.

Loved Andy Benes comments at the end, he gave some real good advice and seems like he had a level head after being the #1 pick, much like our boy Stephen Strasburg.

[hammondsnats]

So the game is said to be on EspnNews (just the innings Strasburg pitches) as well as Espn3.com (and I think Senatorsbaseball.com).

Go get 'em Stephen Strasburg

[Terpfan76]

Was at yesterdays game. 1-0 loss in the 10th inning. It was a combination of decent pitching, decent fielding, at least until that last ball went over the fielders head and terrible hitting.