STRASBURG ELECTRIFIES IN DEBUT

Video courtesy of TheBigLead

Ignore everything I said yesterday about Stephen Strasburg. The kid looks like the real deal. His 14 strikeouts in his major league debut was one short of a Major League record and it set a Nationals team record for K's in a game. His fastball was touching 100 mph. His "slurve" was buckling kneecaps and brought back memories of Kerry Wood in 1997. His changeup was in the low 90's. THE LOW 90'S. Absolutely fucking ridiculous.

I know the Pittsburgh Pirates are about as far away from being a juggernaut hitting club but what Strasburg did was come into a game in which he should have been feeling overwhelmed from all the attention and hype and simply took all that energy and mowed them down with relative ease. The way his pitches moved in the strike zone was similar to Pedro Martinez back in the late 90's. He puts a lot of torque into his motion and gets a ton of movement. If he stays healthy and it appears the Nats are intent on keeping him on a strict pitch count than he can be one of the best. If he stayed in the game last night he might have struck out 20 guys the way he was coasting. I have little doubt he could be up there with the Jimenez, Lincecum, Halladays and Greinkes of the pitching world this year.

But then again it was just one game. Let's see how hitters do against him now that there is some what of a scouting report on him. He will face the Cleveland Indians next which shouldn't be a huge problem but I would love to see how he does against the Braves, Phillies, Dodgers, and so on lineups who have more balance from 1-8 in the order.

In short: Strasburg is fucking legit! Now everyone get on your knees for him.