Stephen Strasburg Lives Up To The Hype With Brilliant 14 Strikeout Debut In Nats' 5-2 Win

Hopefully, MLB doesn’t take this one down, because it really is spectacular to watch: A compilation of just Stephen Strasburg’s strikeouts from Tuesday night. There were 14 in all, each one mesmerizing:

(Via Mister Irrelevant)

Our saber-slanted friends over at SB Nation’s Beyond The Boxscore used pitch f/x to analyze all 94 pitches Stephen Strasburg threw in his MLB debut on Tuesday night. Head there to see the full results, but here are some highlights:

— His velocity was consistently averaging around 98 mph on his four-seem fastball, with the best one coming out at 100.1 MPH. His last fastball of the night was faster than his first, at over 98 MPH.

— His fastball has almost as much break as his curveball, which is saying a lot considering his breaking ball borders on unhittable.

— His average change-up velocity was 90.2 MPH, faster than most pitchers’ fastball.

— And, this:

Finally, let’s exit the realm of generalizability for a moment, and look at one particular pitch. It was Stephen Strasburg’s 21st pitch of his career. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t mean much. It was a ball that missed rather badly inside and did not draw a swing. But it was a fastball, and it broke over 8" upward and nearly 8.5" towards the plate…

And it left his hand at 100.1 MPH.

That 21st pitch of his evening and career was a snapshot of everything that this kid is capable of: overwhelming speed with mind-blowing movement.

Beyond The Boxscore used the headline “Hype Fails to Live up to Stephen Strasburg,” which is probably the most accurate summation of his debut that we’ve read.

(For the Sports Network official recap, visit here.)

Stephen Strasburg threw 94 pitches Tuesday night. 58 of them were fastballs. They averaged 97.7 miles per hour. The slowest was 95.3. The fastest was 100.1. Nine of them were cut on and missed.

Stephen Strasburg threw 94 pitches Tuesday night. 25 of them were curveballs. They averaged 82.2 miles per hour. Five of them were cut on and missed.

Stephen Strasburg threw 94 pitches Tuesday night. 11 of them were changeups. They averaged 90.4 miles per hour. Four of them were cut on and missed.

Strasburg featured three pitches in his debut, and each is already among the best of its type in the league. A pitcher with one of his fastball, his curve, or his change would be worthy of a first-round pick. A pitcher with all three of them is worthy of consideration as the best pitcher in baseball, and as insane as that sounds, who's going to disagree? Who, that watched those seven innings, believes Strasburg still has more to prove?

I mean, okay, I guess he does have to prove that he can do this with consistency, game in and game out. And Strasburg isn't going to strike out 14 batters every outing. He's going to run into some struggles. Even though his early schedule looks pitcher-friendly - he'll follow Pittsburgh with starts against Cleveland, Chicago, and Baltimore - he'll experience some bumps, and he'll have days where he gets hit or loses the zone. But is he ever going to get torched? Is he ever going to miss the zone completely? Can anyone even imagine what it would look like for an arm with that stuff to come out after three and a third?

I was talking to a friend about Strasburg the other week. We were discussing the possibility of Strasburg underachieving, and what we would look back on as being the sign that we missed. We agreed that it would be command. That, if Strasburg didn't come out and impress right away, it would be because his location suffered against Major League competition. And, tonight, we could see some of that, as Ivan Rodriguez routinely had to move his glove to catch Strasburg's tailing fastball and biting curve. Strasburg clearly doesn't possess a Maddux-like ability to put the ball wherever he wants. But he does come damn close, and almost frighteningly close for a guy who can reach triple digits. No, Strasburg will probably never be able to spot with the best, but he gets so much movement that he'll generate a lot of swings at balls out of the zone. He's sufficiently deceptive and overpowering that he doesn't need to pitch into teacups to sit with the elite.

I consider it a privilege to have been able to watch Strasburg debut. It's probably said too often, but that game was art. And you can only imagine how good this feels for Nationals fans, who, aside from Jordan Zimmerman and John Patterson, have by and large missed out on watching starters with the ability to pick up a big strikeout. Ten Nats have started games so far in 2010. Strasburg already has more strikeouts than four of them, and he's only 18 behind the leader. This is a new sensation. An electrifying sensation. I enjoyed it from afar, but fans will be able to see this every five days. That's an absolute blessing.

In closing, hot diggity damn. Strasburg's even a humble, down-to-earth interview. He is the perfect young player, a player who sneezes ability, and his is a total package of which legends are made. Strasburg's a guy who makes you want to have grandkids.

• I wonder how many people truly appreciate Strasburg's pitch economy. He struck out 14 batters and still got through seven on 94 pitches. Rich Harden throws 94 pitches per inning. This start was extraordinary, but it might only grow more extraordinary as some time passes and we start to look at it from a more objective, rather than emotional perspective. Emotionally, it was awesome, but objectively, this was truly one of the finest starts I've ever had the pleasure of watching, and I watch a lot of starts. Thank you, Strasburg. You are a treat.
• Strasburg didn't get to depart to a mid-inning standing ovation, but he did come out for a curtain call in the bottom of the seventh. Everybody should send him a card. Everybody in attendance or watching on TV should send him a card. It takes a lot to make baseball electrifying, and Strasburg thrilled everyone for two straight hours. Even Pirates fans, who saw their team at least come out with some runs. All the build up, all the anticipation - there's nothing anybody could've written or said that would've prepared us for a start this amazing.
  
• I wonder how long it'll be before people start taking Strasburg for granted. That's the trouble with setting a bar this high. 
• Bob Costas:
  
  "It is difficult to restrain yourself. Unleash all the superlatives. They all seem to apply."
  
• Ed Price:
  
  Most K in debut, since 1920: J.R. Richard 15, Karl Spooner 15, Stephen Strasburg 14.
• Rany Jazayerli:
  
  According to baseball-reference.com, no P has ever struck out 14+ batters on so few pitches. Javier Vazquez threw 96 pitches on 4/9/03.
• MLB Network had Andrew McCutchen wearing a mic today so they could hear his in-game remarks about Strasburg. They just played some clips. I imagine those clips were heavily edited.
  

And, just for funsies, this is how Strasburg started Andy LaRoche off in that at bat:

Sometimes I have daydreamed about how I wish I were a Major League Baseball player. It's times like this I'm glad I'm not. I don't make a lot of cash, but I still have my dignity.

• Like to see Strasburg come back out for the seventh. There's a difference between being cautious and being over-protective, and he'd only thrown an easy 81 pitches. He could tear his elbow on the next pitch and I'd still defend this decision.
• Boy do I hope he doesn't tear his elbow on the next pitch.
• He did not.
• I didn't write anything during that inning because I just had to sit back and watch. Garrett Jones: seven-pitch strikeout. Delwyn Young: three-pich strikeout. Andy LaRoche: three-pitch strikeout. Five swinging strikes. Willie Harris is on to pinch-hit for Strasburg in the bottom half, meaning Strasburg's day is done, but this was a night for the ages. Strasburg threw 94 pitches. 65 of them were strikes. 18 of them were swinging strikes. He had 14 strikeouts and zero walks. And his last pitch was 99 miles per hour. They should just hand Strasburg the Cy Young because of this start alone.
• Stephen Strasburg and Jason Heyward are perhaps the two most hyped young players the game has ever seen. They have exceeded the hype.

• And Strasburg starts the sixth by dismissing Andrew McCutchen with a 91mph changeup. A 91mph changeup, as you know, is faster than the league-average fastball. Helpless.
• Neil Walker: helpless on three straight fastballs. That's ten strikeouts. Ten strikeouts. He's faced 20 batters.
• 11. 11 out of 21, after Lastings Milledge goes too far on a check-swing at a change in the dirt. Stephen Strasburg has struck out 52% of the hitters he's seen so far in the Major Leagues. The only thing I can do 52% of the time with anyone is make uncomfortable smalltalk and hold eye contact for too long.
• Strasburg has 11 strikeouts through six innings. Karstens has zero. Half of this game is the most unwatchable game of the season. 
• Via Brooks Baseball, here's how Strasburg's velocity has held up:
  
  

  There's a little dip with his fastball in the middle, but he picked himself back up to 98-99 later on. Perhaps a second wind as he knew the end was coming. Though he's only thrown 81 pitches, and though we don't yet know how he'll feel tomorrow, this is a positive sign concerning his stamina.

• Adam Dunn goes deep, Josh Willingham goes deep, and all of a sudden the Nats are up 4-2 and Strasburg's in line for the win. Nice to see everyone remember that this is Jeff Karstens, Human Mutant. There's a lot of talk on the broadcast about whether or not the homers mean the end for Strasburg, as Jim Riggleman might want to take him out while he's ahead and feeling good about everything, but since he's only thrown 81 pitches, I'm hoping he gets sent out for one or two batters in the seventh, just so he can be pulled to the ovation he so rightly deserves.
  
• WOW! THAT'S A LOW PRICE

• I watched a lot of Ronny Cedeno in Seattle. He takes those helpless swings against everyone. Ronny Cedeno is a Major League baseball player the way a stick bug is an animal.
• Strasburg vs. Jeff Karstens, his ghoulish opponent:
  
  98mph
  98mph
  98mph
  82mph
  99mph
  99mph
  
  Stephen Strasburg doing volunteer work at the hospital:
  
  
  Dave Chapelle
  
  Ft. Hood?!? It's the Army way | MySpace Video
  
  
  
• WOW! THAT'S A LOW PRICE
• A 14-pitch fifth puts Strasburg at 70 after five. Gotta think the next half-inning is his last, and even though the Nats are currently losing, he deserves the most standingest of ovations. One wonders how many of those people who stand up will then turn around and leave the stadium. As soon as Strasburg departs, this is just a game between the Nationals and the Pirates.
• Stephen Strasburg is trending on Twitter in Seattle.

• Neil Walker rips a Strasburg curve into right for a single. Once again, a hit, and once again, not a sweet spot hit. What we've established is that Stephen Strasburg's curveball will not have a career .000 batting average against. That said, .001 is not out of the question. Who is Neil Walker? You are spoiling this for everyone.
• And another well-hit single as Milledge drills a fastball at the belt the other way. Strasburg has dipped down into the 95-96 range. Not a bad sign; this is something we expected. There's nothing wrong with facing a little adversity. Now we see how he responds against a power bat in Garrett Jones.
• And he responds by inducing a full count broken-bat double play. Still, some cracks begin to show - five of Strasburg's pitches were out of the zone, including the last. A more disciplined hitter might walk and load the bases. Of course, Strasburg deserves some degree of credit for having enough deception and tail on his fastball to get Jones to chase.
  
• Delwyn Young tags Strasburg for a two-run homer that gets a row into the right-center seats. However, while the Nats have fallen behind, I wouldn't be alarmed - that was more good hitting than bad pitching. Perhaps I should've given more credit to the Pirates instead of dumping on them at every last opportunity. Strasburg threw Young a low, sinking change, and Young was out in front of it, but he's strong enough to get extended, and he was able to put a charge in it. Tim Lincecum has given up 38 dingers in his big league career. Sometimes a good pitcher makes a bad pitch, and it gets hit. Other times a good pitcher makes a good pitch, and it gets hit anyway. 
• It'll be interesting to see how the crowd responds after that homer shatters the he's-never-going-to-allow-a-run mystique. Given how magnificent Strasburg looked early on, the two runs are almost disappointing, which isn't fair. I'm guessing it'll only take one more swinging strikeout for everyone to get energized again. This isn't about this game. This is about the Nationals' future, and everyone can plainly see how exciting he's going to be for a long long time.

Good luck everybody. 

• WOW! THAT'S A LOW PRICE
• Strikeout #5. Jaramillo watches a curve at the hips. Tom Hallion with a Tom Hallion call. That pitch doesn't need to be in the dirt to be spectacular.
  
• Strikeout #6. This one was a pitcher, so it doesn't really count, but, again, would a position player do any better? Would a position player on the Pirates do any better?
• And McCutchen grounds out harmlessly on a tight, inside, tailing 98mph fastball. There's nothing more for Strasburg to prove. It is clear - it is abundantly clear - that, as long as he stays healthy, he'll be a Major League ace. This is better stuff than I saw from King Felix as a rookie. Way better stuff. 
• The ten-pitch third inning puts Strasburg on pace for 80 through six innings, which is nice and comfortable. So far, his fastball is averaging 98mph. That's Joel Zumaya, with other pitches, as a starter.
• Strasburg nearly singled in his first major league at bat, by the way. Although Jeff Karstens is terrible. The most interesting thing about Jeff Karstens is this game. The second most interesting thing about Jeff Karstens is that he was born without a lower jaw.
  
  
  (via)
  

• It's one thing to put away a Lastings Milledge when you get ahead 0-2. It's quite another to put away a Garrett Jones when you fall behind 3-0. Anyone can succeed when they get ahead, but by dismissing Jones - and by doing so in overpowering fashion - Strasburg proves his stuff. Against Steven Strasburg, there's no such thing as a hitter's count.
  
• And we have our first 100mph, versus Delwyn Young.
  
• ...followed by an 83mph curveball that drops a foot and dives towards the ankles. Young swung on top and missed by a foot. That pitch is never going to get hit for a home run. Never. It is never leaving the park.
• Andy LaRoche tags Strasburg for his first Major League hit allowed. 100mph isn't unhittable when it's left over the plate, but it should be noted that LaRoche didn't get the sweet spot on the ball. Nice to get that hit out of the way, because given how untouchable Strasburg has looked, this way people don't get pissed off if Strasburg gets yanked after six perfect innings.
• Jones strikes out swinging, Young strikes out swinging, Ronny Cedeno strikes out swinging. Once again, we have to remember that this is one of baseball's worst lineups going up there taking its hacks, but it's not like these are bad hitters taking bad swings at bad pitches. These are bad hittters taking bad swings at amazing pitches. The curve to Young was one of the best pitches I've ever seen. That isn't hyperbole. It would be impossible to be hyperbolic about that pitch.

The neat thing about this live-blog is that I don't give a crap about the bottom halves of each inning. I'm only here for you, Stevie.

• Just in case there were any lingering doubts - any at all - Strasburg's first eight Major League fastballs came in at 97, 97, 98, 98, 99, 97, 99, and 99 miles per hour. Yeah. Good to see that his first wasn't his fastest, as it suggests that he didn't come out too fired up. Even though he fell behind 2-0 on each of the first two batters, he wasn't missing by much, and he clearly has the stuff to afford a little margin of error.
• The curveball to Lastings Milledge? Unfair. That inning went from uneasy lineout to easy groundout to humiliating strikeout. God help the Pirates if Strasburg's just getting settled in.
• They say that everything Strasburg touches tonight will get the MLB certification hologram. Everything? Everything he touches?
• Love to see Strasburg's quick tempo. I don't have a stopwatch, but he was pitching the ball as quickly as Pudge was returning it. Few things frustrate quite like an ace who works slow. Few things excite quite like an ace who works fast.
• Speaking of working fast, if the Nationals don't stop making quick outs I'm going to fall way behind.

All right, I'm here with quesadilla in hand, ready to kick this thing off. I see MLB Network kicked it off about an hour ago. I'm certain they filled that time with worthwhile information.

• I love pitching. I love dominant pitching, and I love watching dominant pitching. Dominant pitching is the most beautiful part of the game. But while part of me wants to see Strasburg no-hit the Pirates for as long as he's in, I can't be the only person who'd find it funny if the Pirates beat the snot out of the little elven-looking son of a bitch.
• You know who feels like a real asshole right now? Drew Storen. How's that shadow, Drew? At least he's going to save a lot of money on sunscreen.
• I'd just like to take this opportunity to point out that all eyes will be fixed on a mid-week June game between the Nationals and the Pirates. Ordinarily, a lower-profile organization like Pittsburgh might be thrilled to get this many viewers. As is, the Pirates might've preferred it when nobody realized how bad they are. Without Ryan Doumit in the lineup tonight, I just...I mean...Strasburg's ~90 pitch count could get him two complete games. 
• Aaaaand we're muted. Way to impress, MLB Network.

PIRATES:

Andrew McCutchen, CF
Neil Walker, 2B
Lastings Milledge, LF
Garrett Jones, 1B
Delwyn Young, RF
Andy LaRoche, 3B
Ronny Cedeno, SS
Jason Jaramillo, C
Jeff Karstens, SP

NATIONALS:

Cristian Guzman, 2B
Nyjer Morgan, CF
Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
Adam Dunn, 1B
Josh Willingham, LF
Ivan Rodriguez, C
Roger Bernadina, RF
Ian Desmond, SS
John Lannan, SP

oh wait

The press release:

NATIONALS RECALL STEPHEN STRASBURG FROM SYRACUSE, REINSTATE IVAN RODRIGUEZ FROM DL & DESIGNATE JAMIE BURKE FOR ASSIGNMENT 

The Washington Nationals today recalled right-handed pitcher Stephen Strasburg from Syracuse of the Triple-A International League, recalled from rehab and reinstated catcher Ivan Rodriguez from the 15-Day Disabled List and designated catcher Jamie Burke for assignment. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement.

The first-overall selection in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft, Strasburg went 7-2 with a 1.30 ERA in 11 starts with Syracuse and Harrisburg of the Double-A Eastern League. The 21-year-old posted a .158 batting average against and allowed just one home run in 55.1 innings en route to a 5.0/1 (65 K/13 BB) strikeout-to-walk ratio and 10.57 strikeouts per 9.0 innings.

Among all minor-league pitchers, Strasburg ranks near the top of the leader board in most major statistical categories, including: batting average against (second), WHIP (0.80, third), ERA (fourth) and wins (tied for seventh).

Strasburg went 4-1 with a 1.08 ERA in six starts with Syracuse. He won his last outing on Thursday at Buffalo, allowing just three hits and one walk with five strikeouts in 5.0 innings of shutout ball.

In five starts with Harrisburg, Strasburg went 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA and posted 27 strikeouts in 22.0 innings. At the end of his stint with the Senators, he led all Eastern League pitchers in strikeouts.

Rodriguez, 38, missed the last 14 contests with a lower back strain. He is hitting .325 with nine doubles, one triple, one home run and 16 RBI in 35 games this season.

Burke, 38, had his contract selected on Saturday and appeared in one game with Washington.

Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll chimes in with a viewing guide of sorts for tonight's...well for tonight's only game, as far as anyone's concerned. He runs down the five key points, as he sees them:

1) Fastball

Everyone comes to see the fastball. It's why he's famous, and with good reason. Strasburg's fastball has been credibly recorded as high as 102 and lives in the mid-90's. The fastball comes with all five elements: velocity, control, command, movement, and touch.

2) Slider

As good as Strasburg's fastball is and as much as hitters have to sit on it for any chance to get to it, the slider might actually be as good, if not a better, pitch...One [scout] gave me the great line that when he first saw it in-game, he thought it had hit something mid-flight.

3) Mechanics

Strasburg's mechanics are both smooth and repeatable...As Strasburg accelerates through his delivery, he "stacks up" very well. That means that his foot, knee, glove, chest, and head are lined up over a theoretical pivot point.

4) Stamina

Let's assume that Strasburg is human and has some serious adrenaline going when he gets the big stadium and pro hitters at the plate. If he's able to control that and "stay within himself," that's a big plus. If he comes out playing to the crowd and the radar gun, we might see him tire a little bit as he approaches 60 pitches.

5) Composure

As I said above in the stamina section, Strasburg's demeanor on the mound has been described as everything from "controlled" to "robotic" to "aloof." Observers can see what they want to see in his dispassionate exterior, but he never seems to lose his composure on the mound.

In sum, Strasburg is pretty much flawless, and each of his pitches belongs in a museum.

Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" is a song with a meaning much deeper than any baseball game (for example, death). But when you play it over photos and clips of Stephen Strasburg, and listen to the words, you can almost pretend it was written just for him. 

OK, maybe that's a stretch. But this is still pretty awesome. Goosebumps, engage

"Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still." 

(Via Capital City Goofballs)

This should come as little surprise, given that the Nationals aren't insane, but anyway, according to Ed Price:

Nationals mgr Jim Riggleman on WFAN said #Strasburg won't go to 100 pitches tonight, unlikely to go more than 6 innings.

The Pirates have one of the worst offenses in baseball, with a .307 team OBP and a below-average number of pitches per plate appearance, and for good measure they've been worse against righties than lefties. Unless something goes wrong, Strasburg should be able to approach or reach those six innings with little problem.

The following was submitted by Patrick Reddington of Federal Baseball:

-----

Washington, D.C. is an event town. I can't tell you how many times I've been told this about the nation's capital in the five years since my Expos relocated from Montreal to D.C., when I've wondered aloud why it was that MLB was determined to relocate the first major league team to play outside of the United States to a city that had already lost two franchises to relocation and hadn't had a team call it home in over 30 years. That first year, in 2005, or at least the first half of it, those who told me about Washington, D.C. were right. The return of baseball to the nation's capital was an event. Fans packed RFK Stadium that first season, 33,651 a game (according to The Baseball Almanac's figures), as the Nationals got off to an improbable start, holding on to first place in the NL East as late as July 24th before a second-half free fall saw them go from 52-36 before to 29-45 after the All-Star Break.

In 2006 the Nationals went from 81 wins to 71, and 33,651 a game became 26,582. In '07, the first year under Manny Acta, the Nats managed to win 73 but drew only an average of 24,271. The 2008 season saw a jump in attendance when the opening of Nationals Park once again made going to a game an event, but the novelty wore off quickly as the Nats stumbled through a 102-loss season, and with 103 losses in 2009 the average attendance dropped to 22,716 per game. The low point, however, came on Opening Day 2010, when busloads of Phillies fans drove down from Citizens Bank, invading a park of stunned Nationals fans who had no idea how so many out-of-town fans had procured tickets to what is supposed to be the biggest home game on the schedule, but without opposing teams' fans buying up half of the seats, the Nats' have drawn just over 20,000 per game through the first 24 home games of 2010.

Coming off back-to-back 100-loss seasons, and an Opening Day that was ruined for many, not even a Nationals team that has exceeded expectations, hovering around .500 later in the season than they have since the inaugural '05 campaign, has drawn fans to the park. But He can. ESPN.com's Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) documented the spike in ticket sales for the Nats/Pirates game on Twitter back on May 31st when the Nationals confirmed the June 8th debut of the no.1 pick of the 2009 Draft, Stephen Strasburg:

    "The Nationals announced at about 7 p.m. that Strasburg is making his debut on June 8. At 8:30 p.m., I checked on their site for best...available seats for that date -- and it said right field corner. Now, at 9, it's saying no seats available. No official word on sellout yet."

Stephen Strasburg will make his MLB debut one day short of a year after he was selected out of San Diego State University on June 9, 2009. Strasburg was identified as the top prospect available in the '09 Draft more than a year before Bud Selig announced the Nats' pick. Nats fans followed his SDSU starts online. D.C. beat reporters started making pilgrimages to Tony Gwynn Stadium in San Diego to document his rise. After signing with Washington in mid-August just moments before the deadline to ink the year's draft picks, Strasburg went to the Florida instructional league where his first start was televised on ESPN. Strasburg's Arizona Fall League starts drew fans and writers all the way out to Phoenix and Surprise, Ariz., and put a national spotlight on Arizona Fall League games that previously had drawn little attention. Strasburg's first spring training start was on ESPN and the MLB Network. His minor league starts -- mostly sellouts -- have been broadcast locally in DC and nationally, and now his major league debut is on the MLB Network on Tuesday and there aren't many tickets to be found for a midweek game against the Pirates that is seen as a turning point for the D.C. franchise.

Buster Olney provided one last update on ticket sales:

    "Update this AM: Lowest price on Stubhub for Strasburg game tix is now $55. His starts, at the outset, will be an event, like a rock concert."

If it's an event, the fans will be there. Will every Strasburg start be the same? We'll see. As for Strasburg's first start, good luck getting in, Nats fans.