Strasburg Falls Back to Earth

(BOD - Penny Lancaster)

Stephen Strasburg, the most-hyped pitching prospect since God, had his first start last night since coming off the disabled list with what was diagnosed as shoulder inflammation. Young Stephen had the worst outing of his short career against the Florida Marlins, giving up six earned runs, on six hits and two walks, in just over four innings.

Now, I’m sure there will be a plethora of knee-jerk reactions to Strasburg’s rocky outing, but, in the great scheme of things, it’s insignificant. Every pitcher struggles from time to time, especially young ones. And yes, even young pitchers with stuff as filthy as Stephen Strasburg will experience the growing pains of being a major league starter.

I’m more intrigued about the reasoning Strasburg went on the DL in the first place. I’m not exactly sure what shoulder inflammation is, or what it feels like, but I’m assuming that it’s different from ‘dead arm’. Dead arm is an odd phenomenon where your arm doesn’t hurt, but your pitches have zero ‘pop’ or velocity to them. There’s no way to predict when dead arm will strike, or how long it will last for you, but it usually goes away after a week or so.

I was talking about Strasburg with a couple of my baseball friends and we all agreed that, due to the financial commitment the Washington Nationals have given to the fireballer, it was essential that they place the kid on the DL. Better safe than sorry.

However, it also led us to question the severity of the ‘injury’. And this isn’t a condemnation of Strasburg’s testicular fortitude; rather it is a commentary on how professional baseball coddles arms to such an unfathomable degree.

I literally cannot remember the last time I pitched and my arm felt one hundred percent. I’m not saying my arm hurts, but I consistently have little tweaks and twinges in my treasured appendage (no, not that one) throughout the season. However, I have never had a serious arm injury (knock on wood) and throwing with slight aches and pain has never adversely affected my performance.

Professional baseball makes it seem like they shut pitchers down every time they feel the slightest discomfort. If that were truly the case then I would have thrown maybe five innings all season.

Pitchers get enough of a bad rap for being pussies and being soft. It’s time for the entire profession to man up. Surely these guys, the cream of the crop of their profession, can differentiate between an injured arm and one that just feels the residual wear and tear of throwing objects overhand at high velocity.

Addendum: I just read this morning that Brandon Morrow’s next start will be pushed back two days because he threw 137 pitches in his magnificent start on Sunday afternoon. So much for that man up part.