For those of you who can’t see June fast enough, here is some of the latest Stephen Strasburg news. Baseball America had a Strasburg heavy weekend, with an article about his mechanics, as well as an interview. Here is the link to the interview. You have to pay to read Jim Callis’ article about the mechanics, but here are the highlights:
- A blogger (those bastards) wrote that Strasburg’s arm action was bad and would lead to decreased velocity and injuries
- Callis questions the bloggers credentials, and notes that “Baseball America has yet to encounter a scout who was terribly worried about Strasburg’s mechanics”
- The only scout who had any questions saw him again and decided he was fine, saying he’d still pick him #1
- Good mechanics doesn’t necessarily keep pitchers from getting hurt
- Don’t believe everything you read from a blogger. I’d have to agree wholeheartedly with that
Sometimes I’m of the mindset to just wait for the actual draft (or right before it) to talk about Strasburg. But he’s getting high praise and continues to get coverage, so I guess he’s worth a mention.
Zimmermann’s the 5th Man
The rotation has been solidified, even if every part isn’t totally solid. Jordan Zimmermann has been named the 5th starter, and Martis as the #4 man. This means that the suspected arbitration clock delay isn’t happening, and Zimmermann will be scheduled to make his debut on April 19th. I just bought my tickets for that game. I mean, there’s plenty available and it’s a weekend game, why not? Just don’t get mad at me if the schedule changes. In the meantime, he will start the season in the minors. He can continue pitching on a proper schedule, and they’ll call him up that weekend. With this final piece, the team actually has 5 starters ready to go. Mark Zuckerman brought up the interesting point that this team finally has a real rotation of young players. No retreads or trade baits. Well maybe some trade bait. But no Ramon Ortizes, Tony Armases, or Jason Simontacchis. It’s nice to see, the guys going to the mound, if they perform, will be the future of this organization.
A Little bit on Scott Olsen
Scott Olsen started Saturday’s game against the Astros and pitched pretty well. He didn’t strike out many, 2, but only walked 1, and only gave up 1 ER in 5 2/3 IP. The good news: he looked decent against a real Astros lineup, at least the first 5 batters (Matsui, Bourn, Pence, Lee, and Tejada). The bad news: this outing lowered his spring training ERA to 4.18. Whether he has struggled because he was getting work in, or still hasn’t found that velocity from his improved mechanics, I have no idea. If it’s the former than he could end up being the Nats best pitcher over the first few months. If not, it could be very ugly.