Stephen Strasburg is on the all-time fastest track

Post #1 » by **HMFFL** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:24 am

The radar gun blinks wildly. It’s not used to this. No one makes it strain to read out a third digit. It looks like binary code, not the speed of a pitch from a 20-year-old kid: 101.

It keeps showing up, 101 again and again, and as scouts peek at the number, they ask aloud what everyone else in the baseball world wonders: Will Stephen Strasburg someday throw a baseball harder than anyone has before?

Two men holding radar guns as well as his pitching coach said he has touched 103 mph this season. Only three others have done that, and all were major league relief pitchers, not juniors in college. Strasburg is a starter for San Diego State, and his velocity levels off in triple digits, something never seen, not from Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson or any of the modern fireballers since the advent of the radar gun.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=s ... &type=lgns

Post #2 » by **lpsevier** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:21 pm

He's certainly someone to be excited about as a baseball fan.

I'd prefer him not in the NL East however, or you know - on the Braves.

Post #3 » by **Bleeding Green** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:03 pm

I wonder if he'll get that 50 million dollar contract Boras is talking about. I'd just give it to him and bring him up the day after he's drafted. Dude better not throw a single minor league pitch. How many MLB pitchers are legitimately better than him right now? Somewhere between zero and 7.

Post #4 » by **craig01** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:09 pm

103?

Wow.

Post #5 » by **studcrackers** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:22 pm

Bleeding Green wrote:I wonder if he'll get that 50 million dollar contract Boras is talking about. I'd just give it to him and bring him up the day after he's drafted. Dude better not throw a single minor league pitch. How many MLB pitchers are legitimately better than him right now? Somewhere between zero and 7.

i thought the # came down to something like 20+ million after the initial 50 million number came out

either way, the nats have to take him, even if they fail to sign him no other team gets there hands on him

Post #6 » by **Bleeding Green** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:36 am

Yeah, absolutely. If they don't sign him they just get a compensatory pick again next year so there is zero chance he falls, unlike how things worked before. Rick Porcello, hello.

Post #7 » by **Schad** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:08 am

If he wanted a major league deal that equates to $30-40m over 4-5 years, I'd happily sign the contract and place him on the major league roster immediately. That's solid-but-unassuming-number-two-starter money. The Nationals can't really evaluate him within the traditional framework of a draftee...he's already the ace of their staff and the draft hasn't even taken place yet.

Post #8 » by **tsherkin** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:31 pm

It's nice to hear that he's got two out pitches. I want to see him throttle back on his fastball velocity for most of the game, though; let him throw 99 mph and haul back for 103 as an outpitch, mixing in that curve, a changeup and maybe a sinker or a conventional 2-seamer. If he can do that, he'll be as close to untouchable as pitchers get.

He's got huge promise, so it should be fun to watch. I hope he isn't Mark Prior pt 2.

Post #9 » by **craig01** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:36 am

Just keep him off the cover of SI.

Post #10 » by **tsherkin** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 1:15 pm

lmao

THE CURSE!! It's a curse!!

jumanji · Post #11 » by **jumanji** » Fri May 22, 2009 7:20 pm

I had to chuckle the other night when he had a slight cramp in his back and the media reported it like it was breaking news, has to be the most ballyhooed college player ever.

As a Mariners follower (fan is a little shakey) i about hurl when i think the Ms only had to tank one of their last 3 games last fall to get the top pick. They couldnt even do that right.

Maybe the big money will scare the Nats off but they need to take him and fill the seats when he pitches.

Post #12 » by **Rafael122** » Wed May 27, 2009 2:12 am

No, the Nats will sign him. They have to, b/c they risk losing the fanbase they have left.

Their rotation right now isn't terrible...Jordan Zimmerman and Ross Detwiler have talent.

hermes · Post #13 » by **hermes** » Thu May 28, 2009 2:30 pm

103? woo

nats should sign him

Post #14 » by **tsherkin** » Sat Jun 6, 2009 6:45 am

FWIW, Keith Law says that the reports of 103 mph are apocryphal (his word). The scouting report on this guy says that, as a starter, his fastball sits between 94 and 99 mph and touches 100. And if he averages 96 mph on his fastballs, he'd be the hardest-throwing pitcher in the majors anyway (IIRC, Verlander's 95.5 mph average is the highest in the league at this point in the season). Plus, Strasburg has a good 2-seamer and that filthy slider thing that he calls a curveball.