OT - Steven Strasburg is a Beast
In his widely anticipated major league debut, Steven Strasburg's line was 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 14 K, 1 HR, 2.57 ERA. He threw 94 pitches and struck out every Pirate at least once. In his first outing he set a Nationals record for strikeouts. His fastball was breaking 100, his change was clocked at 91 and he's got every pitch. He put 10 straight Bucs down after giving up a 2 out, 2 run HR in the 4th. 4-2 Nats at the end of 7.
Kid is the real deal.
[Edit: Nats win 5-2. Strasburg earns the curly W, the silver wig and two shaving cream pies.]
The guy can pitch, no question, but give him a few months and if he can still get 10+ K's a game after MLB hitters have seen him a few times...then we can talk.
If I was the Nats I'd be a little bit concerned that his changeup was hitting 91 on the gun. Little bit to hard in my opinion. But yeah he is a beast, he's going to be one hell of a major league pitcher for a long time.
My God...that is phenom-esq
Ehh he's no Sid Finch.
was right around that speed in the minors too FWIW. Seriously though that was video game-esque stuff tonight. Reminded me a little of Halladay out there.
i can't believe his change is 90-91. you sure that's not his slider?
Gets McCutchen to swing at a 92-mph change-up in the dirt. A 92-mph change-up. There are plenty of good pitchers in the game who would LOVE a 92-mph fastball.
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/06/08/strasburg-live-blog-3/
...Rob Dibble called the pitch during the TV broadcast's replay.
I was at the game and it was beyond nuts.
It's his change, though. He also throws a hard slider, but his fastball is in the 97-100 range, change is 90-92, and is curve (maybe the nasitiest pitch I have ever seen) was sitting at 83.
His change is enough slower than his fast ball and with enough movement on it that it doesn't much matter that it's harder than a lot of peoples fastball.
Where were you? Right field bullpen area was ear-ringing loud. Kept asking myself, "is this really a Nats crowd?" Contrast w/ opening day when Phans turned it into their home opener and you can't help but feel warm all over.
Curve he snapped on Milledge in 1st for strike two? Two for flinching, Lastings.
Kid's change has unusual sink. The sound of that pitch is "whiff."
$10 SRO ticket was FAR below the entertainment value.
In 201 just foul of the left field pole. The drunken bro population up there was surprisingly high, but no complaints, it added more fan color to an already impossibly awesome game.I thought Milledge momentarily had his revenge when he threw out the Hammer at home (to keep the Nats down and Stras in line for the L), but Hammer got em back in the 6th.
As for the curves, it looked like he busted the knees of every batter in the Pirates order at least twice whilst making Karstens piss himself when Stras buzzed him with a neck high 99mph beauty.
I think its funny that Guillen homered off him in a rehab assignment. I just think its kind of random and coincidental.
Guillen didn't homer off of him, just singled.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/24/AR20100…
Dropped right off the table. This kid was amazing. His stuff is magnificent right now. It's unfair to be able to throw a consistent 100 MPH with both the two and four seamer and then have a plus changeup and curveball. I'm trying to remember a pitcher arriving with that arsenal.
He K'd the last 7 players in a row that he faced before getting yanked, the major league record is 10 k's in a row. I was most impressed with the curveball, consistantly around 83 MPH; the hitters in the last inning were either waving at the curveball or about a half second late on the 99mph fastball, I don't care who he was facing, that was impressive.
As a Cubs fan, I can regail you with stories of phenoms with names like Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. Each had great 1st years (Kerry Wood strikeout record in 5th ML start) and were heralded as the second coming. Give him time and we'll see where he ends up. But, he does look good so far...
Agreed. It's only one game, and it was against the Pirates. If he's still doing this 2-3 years down the road, then I'll be impressed. Usually rookie pitchers have a phenomenal year because their stuff is good enough to fool batters. Once batters start to study rookie pitcher's stuff, the pitcher start to look a lot more human.
I will say that I was very impressed with his movement on his pitches though.
I was about to post almost the same thing, except I'm not a cubs fan.
I would also add that I read some studies "back in the day" about pitcher longevity being tied to how many pitches they throw before they are 22. The study speculated one of the reasons that Nolan Ryan lasted so long as a hard thrower was because he missed all but a few innings of the1967 season.
and here come the cub fans trying to rub off their losing stink on real teams...
It'll be a while before he sees an MLB team. His next start is likely against Cleveland.
If Pittsburgh had been a little worse two years ago, it could have been Strasburg striking out 14 Nationals tonight. Kid can flat out pitch.
FWIW, Scherzer struck out 14 in 5 2/3 against Oakland. He then gave up 5 runs in 5 innings against KC. Which is why I say give him some time until branding him as the next chosen one.
Supremely talented! Let's hope he can stay healthy, it is a joy watching superior talents perform. I'm not a Cubs fan, but loved when Prior and Wood had it going on, that was some entertaining baseball.
We need more superstar pitchers - enjoyable in my youth to have so many.. But now, there seems to be many that want him to fail so they can just say "told you so."
Though it was against one of the worst offensive teams in baseball it was still a very impressive outing. I was just as impressed with the 0 walks as I was with the 14 k's. Also, the movement on his fastball is crazy plus that slurve he throws is just unfair. Though I do find it funny that the guy who semi-called him out, Delwyn Young, did hit a home-run.
In sum, good for the Nats, they need this.
...that his battery mate was Pudge, just back from the DL.
Edit:
Whoops.
All Star recovery!!! I was just going to reprimand you:)
Anyone know if he's scheduled to pitch against the Tigers when the Nationals come to Detroit?
If this kid stays healthy, he literally has a possibility of throwing a no no every single time he takes the mound. His fast ball explodes out of his hand like no one i've ever seen. His curveball...best in all of baseball and its not even close. The sky is the limit. But I remember Kerry Wood having stuff like this, as was mentioned earlier. Hope his arm holds up.
At last glance, no, he is not scheduled to face the Tigers.
lived up to the hype in a huge way. just watched the 14 Ks (here http://bit.ly/9HlQPW) unbelievable stuff. hope he keeps his arm healthy.
...at 0:49 was simply nasty. Now Dibble has some real material to work with for his Nats color commentary.