Washington National’s future ace, rookie, Stephen Strasburg made his debut against major league hitters (The Detroit Tigers) yesterday. He, like the Red’s Chapman the day before made an impressive start. The 21 year old Strasburg pitched two scoreless innings, giving up no runs and two hits while throwing 15 strikes out of 27 pitches. By most accounts Strasburg lived up to all the hype that comes from signing a $15 million, four-year contract. Still to early to tell if Strasburg will make the opening day roster. It’s a good bet though that he will be a regular in the rotation before the season is over. After all how many guys (or gals) throw 97 mph and have an a-plus breaking ball to go with it? It’s going to be interesting to see how Strasburg and Chapman, two of the hardest throwing rookies to enter the majors in the same year in a long time, compare to each other. Right now I think Strasburg has a slight advantage as he has less culture shock to adapt to.
A couple of current aces also threw. The New York Mets Johan Santana made his 2010 debut with 1 2/3 innings against the Astros. Santana coming off of surgery was less than sharp giving up four runs and six hits. Santana gave up a homerun to ex-Met Kaz Matsui. What should the Mets read into this? Not much at all. Spring stats don’t mean very much to vets like Santana even those coming off of surgery. The important thing is he pitched with no pain and felt good afterwards.
The New York Yankees ace CC (never met a buffet I didn’t like) Sabathia also made a spring start against the Pittsburg Pirates. Sabathia’s line: 2 1/3 innings, 7 hits, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 K. Any cause for concern here? Nah, it’s spring training. CC started a bit slow last year but ended strong. In baseball it’s not how you start but how you finish that’s important.
