Stephen Strasburg

[Pope Flick]

True 'nuff but it isn't like someone like Gooden pops up annually. Strasburg may be the biggest pitching talent to emerge in a couple decades but then again, this is one game.

 

There's a ways to go. Unless you're a Cubs fan it's easy to forget the hype Prior had coming out of college, much less Kerry Wood who struck out 20 in his 5th or 6th start.

 

Hope the kid does it though, that was some nasty stuff yesterday.

[Ursa Majoris]

There's a ways to go. Unless you're a Cubs fan it's easy to forget the hype Prior had coming out of college, much less Kerry Wood who struck out 20 in his 5th or 6th start.

 

Hope the kid does it though, that was some nasty stuff yesterday.

Indeed. The good scribes of Minnesota were not amused when the Twins passed on Prior and took local boy Joe Mauer instead. Needless to say, none of the aforementioned scribes mentions Mr Prior and their preference for him over Mauer any more.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Ursa Majoris

[whomper]

Post #13.

 

 

Does that mean I have to take you off ignore ?

[Ursa Majoris]

You have set all Huddle buffoons to Ignore

 

Unignore this buffoon.

 

Someone wanna tell me what Whomper is talking about? I have him on Ignore.

 

TIA.

[Pope Flick]

Indeed. The good scribes of Minnesota were not amused when the Twins passed on Prior and took local boy Joe Mauer instead. Needless to say, none of the aforementioned scribes mentions Mr Prior and their preference for him over Mauer any more.

 

 

 

Ya (the really bad word)ing think?

 

I could never figure out if Prior was juiced (he fell off a cliff after testing began) or that line drive to the elbow was what did him in. People at that game down near the field said it was the worst sound they ever heard. Probably both.

[buddahj]

8 K's today in 5 1/3 innings. Plus another W. Maybe he is the real deal.

[Chargerz]

8 K's today in 5 1/3 innings. Plus another W. Maybe he is the real deal.

Yes, he is!

[SLAYER]

Yes, he is!

 

Unbelievable stuff for someone so young. I still want to see him pitch against a MLB team and not quad A teams. They did right by giving him a cupcake schedule for the first 4-5 games to build up the hype and give the kid some confidence.

But anyone that can vote for him over Heyward for Rookie of the Year is to caught up in the hype.

[keggerz]

Unbelievable stuff for someone so young. I still want to see him pitch against a MLB team and not quad A teams. They did right by giving him a cupcake schedule for the first 4-5 games to build up the hype and give the kid some confidence.

But anyone that can vote for him over Heyward for Rookie of the Year is to caught up in the hype.

still over half the season yet to play so anything can happen (for either players as well as others)

[Do Work Son]

While I was watching the phils game tonight they said he broke a MLB record tonight with the most strikeouts in his 1st 3 games with 32...Im sure we'll see this kid break many records as long as he can stay healthy through his career.

[Scooby's Hubby]

Health health health... take care of this guy, he is special. Too many Tim Hudsons and Kerry Woods get hurt and then they are not the same. It is so difficult to stay healthy. I think, however, that it is not from over pitching. His body is still developing and can get hurt. Strength training in the big muscles (legs and back) and throwing with those muscles will prolong his career, just ask Nolan Ryan, Bert Blyleven, Fergie Jenkins, Tom Seaver Greg Maddux, or Jim Palmer. Rarely will you find a Juan Marichial (high leg kick) who can throw forever. Juan was only 6'0" and 185 so his size is more durable than 6'4" 215. It will be form, preservation of body and training the body, and smart technical pitching that will prolong his career.

 

I would love to see this guy fully matured at 26(7) and starting 40 games in a year. This guy could be the next workhorse in the vein of 4 starter rotation guy. I would love to see the 4 man rotation back in baseball.

[SheikYerbuti]

But anyone that can vote for him over Heyward for Rookie of the Year is to caught up in the hype.

 

Lot of ball left to be played my friend. If Strasburg ends with 150 K's and a sub 2.5 ERA, and if Heyward plateaus. . .Strasburg could walk with ROY.

[Do Work Son]

Lot of ball left to be played my friend. If Strasburg ends with 150 K's and a sub 2.5 ERA, and if Heyward plateaus. . .Strasburg could walk with ROY.

Heyward has been quiet of late...his avg has dropped all the way down to .250

[BearcatGreg]

With the early season success of Heyward and the hype surrounding Strasburg, Mike Leake has been, for the most part, ignored. A rookie out of Arizona State who never piched a professional game until his major league debut this year has a 5-1 record with a 3.30 ERA. He is also hitting .394! He has 15 starts with 9 no decisions. Check him out if you haven't seen him pitch.

[SheikYerbuti]

With the early season success of Heyward and the hype surrounding Strasburg, Mike Leake has been, for the most part, ignored. A rookie out of Arizona State who never piched a professional game until his major league debut this year has a 5-1 record with a 3.30 ERA. He is also hitting .394! He has 15 starts with 9 no decisions. Check him out if you haven't seen him pitch.

 

This would have been a better timed post about 3 weeks ago. In 3 of his last 4 starts Leake has given up 5,5 and 6 ER's. Kid's got talent, no doubt, but he's no Strasburg. Reds fans should be more stoked about Volquez making his return to the pros in the next few weeks.

[whomper]

DL with shoulder inflamation

[Ursa Majoris]

DL with shoulder inflamation

Somewhere Sarge is laughing............

[whomper]

Somewhere Sarge is laughing............

 

 

as Tbone gently weeps

[Dallas Sooner]

Somewhere Sarge is laughing............

 

Im not laughing at all.

[T_bone65]

as Tbone is curled up in the fetal position crying mercifully

 

 

[SheikYerbuti]

This kid's got "The Next Mark Prior" written all over him.

[Ursa Majoris]

This kid's got "The Next Mark Prior" written all over him.

Yep. Mayfly Boy.

[I Like Soup]

This kid's got "The Next Mark Prior" written all over him.

Same thing I was thinking...well, I thought about Kerry Wood first.

[Pope Flick]

It's easy to forget that Mark Prior took a line drive off his elbow that was so nasty several people reportedly got ill near the field from the sound of the bone breaking.

 

Here's a great article:

 

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/08/24/all-...liar/?eref=sihp

Maybe you saw the young Gary Nolan pitch. He was just 18 when he made his first start for the Cincinnati Reds in 1967… he struck out 206 that year, finished fourth in the league in ERA, (2.58) threw five shutouts, including a 10-inning one — Bob Feller, who isn’t easily impressed by the talents of young pitchers, called Nolan to tell him, ”You remind me of myself.”

 

Maybe you saw the young Mark Fidrych pitch in 1976 — maybe you saw the way he smoothed out the mound and seemed to talk to the ball, the way his pitches would dive to the ground and hitters would ground the ball to second base, hit into double plays, bounce the ball back to the Bird himself.

 

Maybe you saw Steve Avery pitch as a young man for the Atlanta Braves – people forget that it was Avery who started the Braves on their amazing journey in the 1990s, Avery who at age 21 threw 16 shutout innings at Pittsburgh in the Braves’ first playoff victory since they moved to Atlanta, Avery who was left-handed and overpowering until he started to feel a pain under his arm every time he threw.

 

Maybe you saw the young Ben McDonald come up — he was the Strasburg of his time, the first pick in the draft, a hyped super-pitcher, he threw a shutout in his first big league start, he won his five first big league starts and had a 1.72 ERA in those games, he seemed to have everything. Then he started to struggle. Then he started to feel pain. Or… perhaps it was the other way around.

 

Maybe you saw the young Jim Bouton pitch. He was so terrific in back-to-back years in 1963 and ’64, won 39 games with a 2.78 ERA, made three outstanding starts in the World Series — only you know that his destiny was to write one of the best baseball books ever written about trying to come back.

 

Maybe you saw the young Herb Score pitch in 1955 and ’56 — he led the league in strikeouts both years, had the arm of Sandy Koufax before anyone knew who Sandy Koufax was, he might have been the best pitcher in the league in ’56, he had unlimited talent. People tend to remember Score’s career ending when he got hit in the face by a Gil McDougald line drive, but it wasn’t that simple. He did come back. He had a couple of brilliant moments. But there was arm trouble.

 

Yes. There’s often arm trouble. A complete list would be impossible to put together — Rich Harden… Kerry Wood… Tom Hall… Balor Moore… Howie Pollet … Ewell Blackwell… Slim Jones… all of them might have been legends. Some just barely managed to become legends before the end came. Bret Saberhagen won two Cy Young Awards before he turned 26. J.R. Richard suffered a stroke after he had struck out 300 in back-to-back seasons. Sandy Koufax retired at 30.

 

All of which is to say that Stephen Strasburg fights the odds. But he was fighting the odds anyway, long before this latest injury. Pitchers get hurt in a thousand different ways. And it isn’t the ability to endure pain that gets them through, even if a lughead like Rob Dibble* thinks Strasburg should just “suck it up” and “stop crying.” No, it’s preparation, and it’s luck, and it’s taking care of yourself, and it’s luck, and it’s maintaining form, and it’s luck, and in many cases it’s surgery. The arm isn’t built to throw a baseball as hard as Strasburg throws it. The arm isn’t built to make a baseball do the things that Strasburg can make it do.

 

*If anyone should know this it’s Dibble… the guy threw 105 mph, as hard as I’ve ever seen anyone throw, and he struck out 500 faster than any pitcher in baseball history (only 368 innings — absurd) and he was pretty much unhittable (the league hit .195 against him from 1988 through ’92) and then, yeah, his arm blew up.

[Zooty]

Tommy John surgery