Stephen Strasburg
Stephen Strasburg SP – Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals prized starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg will make his season debut Sunday for the Low-A Hagerstown Suns as they take on the Greensboro Grasshoppers at 4:05 est. This will be his 1st rehab outing since undergoing elbow ligament replacement surgery (also known as Tommy John surgery) last September.
Ironically, or not so much, Sunday will mark the 28th anniversary of Baltimore Orioles’ hall of fame pitcher Jim Palmer’s first rehab in Hagerstown on August 7th, 1983. Suns general manager Bill Farley noted Palmer’s appearance as the largest attended game in Hagerstown history – drawing some 6,192 fans. Farley believes this a mark that will be broken with the arrival of Strasburg. “Strasburg is a proven major league player and one of the brightest talents in baseball. This is going to be a real treat for the fans and for us. We just thought of Jim Palmer’s appearance here and it would be great if we could break the attendance mark that was on that day.”
Nationals Daily News believed the hype - so do we.
Fantasy Dynasty and Keeper league owners will be pleased to have Strasburg back for the September playoff push. He had an instant impact in his debut last season. In his Major league debut on June 8th 2010 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Strasburg went 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, while striking out 14 and walking none. He finished the season needing Tommy John surgery, but he did compile a 5-3 record with a 2.91 and a 1.07 whip in 68 innings over 12 starts. His 2.25 BB/9 was terrific and his 12.18 k/9 was absolutely disgusting.
Despite the Nationals’ attempts to keep things close to the vest on how his rehabilitation has gone in Viera, rumor has it that he’s looked great. How great? Mark DeCotis of FloridaToday.com said “He appeared to be throwing easily and freely, and while his strike-ball count wasn’t as sharp as Thursday when 39 of his 51 pitches were strikes, he was in command. His fastball hummed, his breaking balls broke and his change-up was confounding.” That’s visual poetry, Mark. Others have reported that Strasburg is hitting 95 mph on the radar gun frequently.
The Washington Nationals are 53-58 on the season and currently in last place in the National League East. They surely could use an elite level starting pitcher like Strasburg. Some wonder if it might be too soon though. It’s been noted that it takes 18-24 months to fully heal from Tommy John surgery. Strasburg is currently at 11 months. Much maligned former MASN analyst Rob Dibble thinks the Nationals simply want to “put butts in seats” and are rushing Strasburg back for no good reason. Dibble lost his job with MASN last season after he said that Strasburg needed to “suck it up” and pitch. A few days later Strasburg was diagnosed with a torn ligament in his pitching elbow and his dad blamed Dibble through an email. Does Dibble have a valid point? Possibly. The only thing we can do is sit back and watch things unfold and hope that the Nationals truly believe that he is healthy and will take it carefully with their young superstar.
Make sure to check back after Sunday’s game as we break down Strasburg’s first rehab assignment outing.
