I am now officially jealous of my friend Stephen. He got to see Stephen Strasburg pitch more than once because he interned in DC this past summer! Sad to say, no more of us will get to see him in his pre-Tommy John form, because he's out until 2012. Even in watching him on TV, I don't think I've seen a pitcher with such amazing stuff since Kerry Wood (and the comparisons between the two of them are now to eerie to count!). Of course, this inspires many thoughts.
- First of all, whatever respect I had for Rob Dibble, because he was a former Red and helped get them their last World Series win in 1990, is long gone. It's one thing to question someone's toughness in a respectful way, but the way he did was classless, immature, unbelievably crass, and certainly unbecoming of someone who is a color analyst for a major league baseball team, much less for a guy who will soon be pushing FIFTY?! Mid-life crisis? A little pent-up frustration at his own arm surgery in 1994? Who knows, but if this guy isn't fired as soon as he's done mysteriously not broadcasting Nats games, the world has been done a disservice. (I may have some YouTube fun with this later in the week, and if I do, please please pass it on to friends!)
-
Back to Strasburg, Baseball-Reference has gone into some detail about how his 68 innings in the majors are already very statistically memorable. If he even returns to 90% form due to him having multiple plus-pitches, not just that 100 mph fastball, there's nothing saying they couldn't stay that way. I will revisit how well he ended up with that GSIP metric I built in a later post.
- Between him and Mike Leake (MY GUY!), it shows a serious truth about pitching and young pitchers: There is no magic formula on how to do it. Buster Olney's story on ESPN Insider from Saturday the 28th is a great read to illustrate this. I would be curious to see if this same problem has crept up with any players who are taking the route that David Price and Aroldis Chapman are, that is, a player the team wants to start, but brings up for critical leverage spots as a reliever to get him rolling at the big league level.
Mr. Strasburg, we'll see you in 2012, and don't worry, I will make the drive down to Cincy when you pitch against my team of choice, this baseball fan will not miss lightning striking twice, even if the fastball isn't quite 100 this time!
Stephen Strasburg: It Won’t End Here
I am now officially jealous of my friend Stephen. He got to see Stephen Strasburg pitch more than once because he interned in DC this past summer! Sad to say, no more of us will get to see him in his pre-Tommy John form, because he's out until 2012. Even in watching him on TV, I don't think I've seen a pitcher with such amazing stuff since Kerry Wood (and the comparisons between the two of them are now to eerie to count!). Of course, this inspires many thoughts.
Back to Strasburg, Baseball-Reference has gone into some detail about how his 68 innings in the majors are already very statistically memorable. If he even returns to 90% form due to him having multiple plus-pitches, not just that 100 mph fastball, there's nothing saying they couldn't stay that way. I will revisit how well he ended up with that GSIP metric I built in a later post.
Mr. Strasburg, we'll see you in 2012, and don't worry, I will make the drive down to Cincy when you pitch against my team of choice, this baseball fan will not miss lightning striking twice, even if the fastball isn't quite 100 this time!
Related articles by Zemanta