Strasburg PlayAlong Thread
 

The phenom's first start tonight. Could be the next ____________?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/sp...ls.html?src=me

Looks like he has great tools. Only downside is that strikeout pitchers hurt their arms more often then not, but then the smart ones use finesse to get batters out. Hoping he never gets a prolonged injury.

nice
 

I disagree. Many power pitchers like Ryan, Randy Johnson, Clemens (please no mention of the roids here), Carlton, Seaver and so on never really endured any kind of prolonged arm injuries during their careers. The smart ones that you mention are usually the ones who have had to change their who approach to pitching due to some sort of arm injury.

This is not necessarily true. About 50% of all pitchers spend time on the DL during their careers.

Probably most like Roger Clemens though it would be close to impossible to be as good as he was.

Gotta love MLB Network. Really interesting to see how he does, never seen him pitch

What I meant to say was that strikeout pitchers usually throw alot of pitches to get those strikeouts. So that would lend itself to more injuries and shorter careers. The list that Cannon mentioned was a generation ago when pitchers threw complete games and there were no "set-up" men.

McCutchen K'ed on a 91 mph changeup

Yup. Nasty as advertised.

unreal...

Is he this good? Does playing Pittsburg have a lot to do with it? 14k's is crazy

It is scary how much he looks like Kerry Wood, except he seems to know where the ball is going.

As long as Dusty Baker stays away from him, he has a chance.

The hype in DC the last few days has been feverish and the kid definitely lived up to the hype. Great, electric crowd at Nats Park. Loved the way he set up the hitters and still was throwing gas in the 7th. 14ks sets a club record for a single game. Having Pudge as his battery mate will be a huge positive. Baseball in DC this summer should be good time. :tro:

Well once every 5 days it will

GD1
 

My friends up in WNY said his tour with Syracuse was generating massive crowds (and AAA baseball is pretty close to dead these days.) All reports say he is the real deal... and 14K's in your first start in the bigs says a lot to me.

All it says is that he has control. He might be the real deal but there is zero MLB reports on the guy yet and guys haven't faced him yet. Pitchers automatically have an advantage when they haven't been faced yet.

He is going to have a good season this year, next year will be the telling year if he can make it or not. He will have to make adjustments because the hitters will be making them.

Before people get all nuts, I shouldn't say zero reports. there is basic reports and nothing beats facing the guy and watching that tape.

The only thing that stops him from being a star is injury. There are no adjustments that hitters can make to what he throws. That is what makes him special, he isnt tricking anyone, he is overpowering them. The best way to describe it is he throws like a closer, except you are getting 6 or 7 innings of it. There is only one guy playing right now who throws as hard as he does consistently with great control and he is 11-1 with sub 1.00 era.

He is Walter Johnson with facial hair.

hitters wont really be able to adjust to 98-100 mph heat and a great changeup and already one of the best curve's in the league.

should be much easier for Strasburg to adjust than the batters.. his stuff is that of legends.

This guy in the National League is beyond scary. It's pretty much just a continuation of playing in the minor leagues. :)

NL East has quite the collection of pitchers.

John Lannan
Kyle Kendrick
Brad lidge
Oliver perez
RA Dickey

Hey be nice. I'm going to Kendrick's wedding.

Strasburg had a great night yesterday. Look at who the opposing team was. His next scheduled start is supposed to be against Cleveland. Another power house team. Lets see what kind of stuff he has when he pitches against the Dodgers or Cardinals.

Yes he will have ups and downs but the major leagues is the major leagues. 14ks and no walks is Real.

Hope she is more effective against lefties...he is bp against them.

She's in my wedding as well, haha....He's young, he'll get better.

Did I miss all the other pitchers that are striking out 14 guys in 7 innings and no walks with less than 100 pitches against those teams?

Did I miss all the other pitchers that throw 100 with a 90mph change and 80 mph curve and great command?

Has being in Chicago and being exposed to the terrible baseball here somehow caused me to miss all these other guys?

No actually he probably wont. I believe that he has gotten worse. He wasn't bad as a rookie but the last three years have been kinda ugly. Now I'd trade places with him in a second as my fastball maxes out around 60 but he simply doesnt have enough stuff to last too long past the period where he doesn't make much money. I don't wish any bad on him but when you give up too many hits, don't strike out anyone and turn the avg NL hitter who bats left handed into an all star on a regular basis...

I'll give him this. He's nice and unassuming which many pro athletes can't say. If baseball doesn't work out, I'm sure he'll land on his feet.

Thats cool. He can probably hang around as a situational arm as long as he is willing to play reasonably cheap (by baseball standards)

Doesn't hurt when a WS share a few years back was 350k. Whoa

They better start playing better or those won't be coming again!

he's been very effective in about 70% of his starts this year. I've been plenty happy with him filling in for Happ and Blanton while they have been hurt. He'll be effective in long relief also, when Happ gets back (if he ever does). He's no Halladay of course.. tho he tries to be by basically following Halladay's foot steps day in and day out (ever since Halladay signed). It cant hurt being Halladay's shadow and pick up some of his knowledge, even if Kendrick will never have nearly as good of command.

:mad: