Analyzing Stephen Strasburg's MLB Debut Through The Pitch F/X Lens

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.