Stephen Strasburg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Stephen Strasburg | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Washington Nationals — No. —[1] | |
| Starting pitcher | |
| Born: July 20, 1988 San Diego, California |
|
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Career highlights and awards | |
|
|
| Olympic medal record | ||
Competitor for  United States |
||
|---|---|---|
| Men's baseball | ||
| Bronze | 2008 Beijing | Team |
Stephen James Strasburg (born July 20, 1988, in San Diego, California) is a right-handed power pitcher who was drafted number one overall in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft by the Washington Nationals organization. He signed a record $15.1 million dollar contract with the Nationals on August 17, 2009. He is 6'4", weighs 220 lbs.,[3] and bats right-handed. His fastball is often clocked between 95–97 miles per hour (153–156 km/h), but is known to reach as high as 102 mph (164 km/h).[4] His curveball has been clocked at between 79 and 81 mph (127 and 130 km/h).[5]
Contents |
[edit] College career
In 2008, as a sophomore at San Diego State University, Strasburg went 8–3, with a 1.57 earned run average and 133 strikeouts in 97⅓ innings for the San Diego State Aztecs.[6] Four of his thirteen starts in 2008 were complete games, two of which were shutouts.[7] On April 11, he struck out 23 batters in a game versus the University of Utah.[8]
Strasburg finished the 2009 season 13–1 with a 1.32 ERA, 59 hits allowed, 16 earned runs, 19 walks and 195 strikeouts in 109 innings pitched.[9] In his final home start on May 8, 2009, Strasburg threw his first career no-hitter and struck out 17 Air Force batters.[10]
[edit] International play
Strasburg was the lone collegiate player selected for the U.S. Baseball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He had previously pitched for the USA Baseball National Team (College) when he was selected to the Olympic Team..
In his first start at the Olympics, Strasburg one-hit the Netherlands over seven innings, striking out five of the first six batters he faced. The lone hit Strasburg allowed was a seventh-inning single to Sharnol Adriana. There were two rain delays each lasting at least 90 minutes, and the game was called off after eight innings following the second wait. The Dutch protested the decision because they had loaded the bases in the ninth inning with no outs against reliever Blaine Neal when the game was called, and they felt that regardless of whether or not they were able to score enough runs to beat the U.S., this was their best run scoring opportunity of the day.[11]
With the U.S. having already secured a spot in the semi-finals medal round, Team USA Manager Davey Johnson held Strasburg from what should have been his second start on August 20 in order to pitch him in the first round of the semi-finals against Cuban Norge Luis Vera. The strategy did not work, as Vera outdueled Strasburg with six innings pitched and only two runs (one earned). Strasburg, meanwhile, lasted only four innings while giving up three runs (two earned). Cuba won the game 10–2.
Strasburg ended up with a 1–1 record, a 1.67 ERA, and a bronze medal for the Olympics, as Team USA won its following contest against Japan 8–4.[3]
[edit] Professional career
Strasburg was drafted number one overall in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft by the Washington Nationals. On August 17, 2009, he signed a four-year, $15.1M contract with the Nationals. Strasburg is represented by agent Scott Boras.[12] On August 25, 2009, the Nationals announced that Strasburg would play for the Phoenix Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League in 2009.[13]
Strasburg made his professional debut on October 16, 2009, starting for the Desert Dogs at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
[edit] References
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stephen Strasburg |
- ^ As of September 2009, the Washington Nationals' roster reflected that Strasburg had not yet officially been assigned a uniform number, as the team plan for him not to play during the 2009 season. As may be seen in the pictures on this page, Strasburg will be assigned jersey #37 in the future.
- ^ "Remarkable month continues for Strasburg with award win", CollegeBaseballFoundation.org/National Awards Show/Pitcher of the Year/Recipients, June 13, 2009. College Baseball Foundation. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- ^ a b "Stephen Strasburg Biography and Statistics". http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/st/stephen-strasburg-1.html. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
- ^ "Scouting Strasburg: No. 1? No question". 2009-05-15. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4168915.
- ^ "YouScout: Stephen Strasburg". 2009-05-04. http://projectprospect.com/article/2009/05/04/youscout-stephen-strasburg. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
- ^ "NCAA Statistics". http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/rankings.
- ^ http://goaztecs.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/archive/061108aab.html
- ^ "BASEBALL: Strasburg strikes out 23 Utes". http://www.thedailyaztec.com/2.7442/baseball-strasburg-strikes-out-23-utes-1.793677.
- ^ http://goaztecs.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/sdsu-m-basebl-CumulativeStats.html
- ^ Fitt, Aaron (2009-05-13). "Strasburg fans 17 in no-hitter". Baseball America. ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4160509. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
- ^ "U.S. pitcher flirts with no-hitter in win". http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080814&content_id=3306573&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
- ^ "Strasburg contract numbers". http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/08/strasburg-contract-numbers.html. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
- ^ "Strasburg among Nationals to play in AFL". http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090825&content_id=6612288&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
| Preceded by Tim Beckham |
First overall pick in the MLB Entry Draft 2009 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or The Baseball Cube
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||
