With apologies to Toz - who was planning on writing something up about Steven Strasburg later this week - I couldn't wait after last night's performance to put something up...even if it is only brief.
If you missed the game, I actually feel sorry for you; this is the most impressive debut I've ever seen. Strasburg not only lived up to the hype, he may have actually surpassed it.
The Pitch FX confirms what was pretty easy to see with the naked eye. Strasburg's fastball is a bullet. His change-up is a fast change but still deceptive due to the wicked velocity on the fastball. His curve has a nice bite but stays close enough to the zone throughout that it isn't a Rich Hill/Gio Gonzalez 12-to-6 deal that you can just lay off of and wait for the fastball.
The results were impressive. Those grasping at straws will point out that it's the Pirates and Tom Hallion had a generous zone and Strasburg will have bad days sooner rather than later. All of these points are true, but you have to look at all of the positives before you grab your magnifying glass to squint at the negatives.
Strasburg needs a little refinement. His pitch selection is a work in progress, he needs to trust his stuff and throw more first-pitch strikes and, yes, Tom Hallion won't be behind the plate giving him that high strike every time. However, if Strasburg's raw stuff is this good, it won't matter. As I said in a post earlier this year, it's not hard to envision Strasburg's worst case ERA at about 3, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it didn't wind up being half a run lower than that. This isn't Paul Wilson, folks. This is the real deal.
No comments:
Post a Comment