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Strasmas is nearly upon us. In preparation for his MLB debut on Tuesday, the Nationals demoted Craig Stammen to AAA-Syracuse, making room for Stephen Strasburg to join the big league club.
As the whole world knows, Stephen Strasburg is going to make his Major League debut next Tuesday. Thursday afternoon, he made his final start in the minors. In case anyone was concerned that Strasburg might get ahead of himself, it went pretty well.
In his final minors start, Stephen #Strasburg allowed no runs on 3 hits and a walk with 5 Ks. He also singled. 89 pitches. On to The Show.
Strasburg's final numbers in AA Harrisburg and AAA Syracuse:
55.1 innings
31 hits
14 runs
13 walks
65 strikeouts
He's coming.
Wanna see what all the Stephen Strasburg hype is all about? Yes? Well then, you’re in luck because MLB Network is going to air his debut nationally on June 8. According to a press release from MLB, Bob Costas, Jim Kaat and John Smoltz will be on the call starting at 7 p.m. ET.
The game will be blacked out on MLB Network in the D.C.-area, but will be broadcast on MASN, as usual.
Stephen Strasburg's adversary in his Major League debut has a name. That name?
From clubhouse: Pirates planning to start LHP Zach Duke vs. Stephen Strasburg on Tuesday.
The whole thing kind of loses its drama when you realize the Pirates don't have anyone particularly interesting currently manning their rotation, but Duke's just about as good as it gets. Strasburg's debut will be a nice soft landing as he prepares to face real Major League competition later on.
On June 9, 2009, the Nationals selected Stephen Strasburg with the number one overall pick. Almost exactly one year later, the once-in-a-lifetime prospect will make his Major League debut when he takes the hill against the Pirates on Tuesday, June 8.
The Nationals made the official announcement Monday evening.
"Along with [pitching coordinator] Spin Williams and pitching coach Steve McCatty, we had a plan in place since Spring Training [for Strasburg]," Rizzo said. "We believe he is ready to go. We like that Stephen could bounce back from tough outings."
Assuming no rainouts or injury, Strasburg will make his final Minor League start for Syracuse on Thursday, in Buffalo, and then toe the rubber in Nationals Park five days later.
For more reaction and analysis, visit our Nats blog, Federal Baseball.
Whatever your plans are for June 8, cancel them: Nationals' pitching sensation Stephen Strasburg will be making his Major League debut that night against the Pirates:
#Nats RHP Stephen Strasburg will make his MLB debut on June 8 against the Bucs, according to GM Mike Rizzo.
Strasburg's last Triple-A start is slated for June 3. He is expected to throw approximately 95 pitches.
How good has Strasburg, the No. 1 pick in last year's MLB draft, been this season in the minors? About as good as he could possibly be. Strasburg, between the Eastern League (AA) and the International League (AAA), has allowed eight earned runs in 50.1 innings of work for a nifty 1.43 ERA. He has struck out 60 and walked just six in that span. He's allowed just one home run and his WHIP checks in at 0.74.
Will all his stuff translate well to big league hitters? Tune in June 8.
Everyone's being very careful not to say too much about the specific date Stephen Strasburg will make his Major League debut. Yesterday, the Nationals said they "tentatively" were planning on having Strasburg start in the June 8-10 series against the Pirates.
Today, it appears that date might be June 8, according to a source close to Strasburg. Via Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown:
Source close to Strasburg on debut: It looks like June 8, but that could change.
As anyone following this story knows, the June 8 date is hardly set in stone, so don't go buying your tickets yet. Still, June 8 would make a whole lot of sense. It's the first game of a series against a team likely to be overmatched, and it's at home.
Then again, June 4 also made a lot of sense, so ... yeah.
Well, so much for that June 4 debut that everyone thought was happening. According to MLB.com's Bill Ladson, the Nationals are "tenatively" planning on debuting Stephen Strasburg against the Pirates in June.
The #Nats are tentatively planning to have RHP Stephen Strasburg make his Major League debut against the Bucs at Nationals Park in June.
No official date has been set, but the Nationals play the Pirates at home from June 8-10, so I'd imagine his first start will be somewhere in that range. This is bad news for all those people who bought tickets to the June 4 game against the Reds. But hey, at least it'll be a beautiful day at the ballpark!
If you're like me, talk about things like 'the first place Rays' or 'the surprising San Diego Padres' or 'your blood pressure is perilously high' only gets in the way of hearing about Stephen Strasburg. The' world's best pitcher - nay, the world's best anything - is approaching his arrival date, and, like many, I am deeply interested in when that day will finally come. So you can imagine my displeasure upon reading Jon Heyman's Twitter this morning:
not sure where june 4 rumor started. but mid june better guess for strasburg considering 100 big-league IP target.
All along, June 4th just felt right, so it's troubling to see a name like Heyman suggest something else. Is Strasburg really still weeks away? Is Heyman on to something here?
Heyman, in his Tweet, is referring to the following, from Peter Gammons in April:
When Mike Rizzo and Scott Boras finished the Strasburg deal in August, they agreed he'd be limited to around 100 IP in 2010
However, while Gammons is a very good source, one must then consider this from Ben Goessling, posted two hours later:
Just talked to #Nats farm director Doug Harris. He said the idea of Strasburg being capped at 100 innings this year "doesn't hold water."
...
Harris said he'd like Strasburg to throw between 150 and 160 innings this year.
The key here might be Heyman's inclusion of "big-league" in his Tweet. I'm not sure where that comes from, but it's possible that the Nationals have two Strasburg caps - one for total innings, and one for innings in the big leagues. Major League innings are more taxing, on account of the higher stress level and the competition being more fierce, so it would make sense to set two limits.
But I'm just speculating. I don't know what the Nationals are going to do. And, gun to my head, I think June 4th still makes the most sense. The Nationals, believe it or not, are still kind of competing, and Strasburg could give them a huge boost. Better to give it your best shot and deal with a possible problem in September than hold off and wonder what could've been. Let's say, for the moment, that Heyman's got the innings limit right. Figure that 100 innings, as a hard ceiling, gives Strasburg 15-18 starts. That's a lot of time to see how the season's going. If Strasburg approaches 100 innings and the Nats are still in it, then they have an unfortunate yet good problem on their hands. And if Strasburg approaches 100 innings and the Nats are out of it, then they can shut him down or move him to the occasional bullpen appearance. No biggie.
Ultimately, whether Strasburg has a big league innings cap or not, he's already thrown 45.1 in the minors, with another start coming on Saturday. Figure he'll throw 5 or 6 or so. That'll leave him with another 100-110 innings before he hits Harris' max. You think the Nationals would rather he throw more of those in Syracuse, or all of them in Washington?
Nationals Demote Craig Stammen, In Place To Promote Strasburg
This event has been long in the making, and it's finally here: Stephen Strasburg, the most heralded prospect in recent baseball history, should be headed to the bigs in short order. MASN's Ben Goessling reports:
That's all we needed to hear. The Nats have put the wheels in motion to commence the Stephen Strasburg Era. We knew this was coming, but we probably wouldn't have guessed that Strasburg would be joining a Nationals squad that, despite technically sitting in the NL East cellar, is playing competitively. It'll be interesting to see whether the addition of Strasburg can push the team over the top.
We should note, though, that this is a terrible trade for Syracuse. Their general manager should be fired!
Read more at our Nationals blog, Federal Baseball.
Jun 06 5:26p by Jon Bois - 0 comments