Baseball fans aren’t alone in getting excited about the potential of Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg. So are the 21-year-old pitcher’s peers in the Major Leagues.
Take, for example, Omar Vizquel of the Chicago White Sox, who is in Washington to face Strasburg tonight.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said the potential future Hall of Famer, in his 22nd Major League season. “He’s got a huge responsibility every time he pitches. Everybody’s watching and expecting him to be great. And he knows that.”
Vizquel told me that the only time he can ever remember the media being this enthralled with a player was when “Josh Hamilton won the Home Run Derby.” Hamilton, also a former No. 1 overall pick, hit a record-breaking 28 homers at Yankee Stadium that night.
“But he wasn’t as young as this kid,” Vizquel said about Strasburg.
One of Vizquel’s teammates, dominating left-handed reliever Matt Thornton, has actually been following Strasburg since before he made his Major League debut.
“I actually looked him up on YouTube when he was still in college,” Thornton said.
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“You keep hearing about this guy who is definitely going first in the draft, who might go straight up to the majors. That gets your attention.”
“I’m a fan of the game,” added Thornton, who admitted to following as many of the game’s major stories as possible. “We all are. We watched his first start on TV in the clubhouse. It was amazing.”
Thornton is known for having some of the best stuff in baseball. The southpaw-reliever, a likely participant in next month’s All Star Game, has fanned 40 batters in 27.2 innings. But even the accomplished 33-year-old can’t help but be blown away by Strasburg, just like so many of the batters who have already faced the flame-throwing rookie.
“This guy is every organization’s dream,” he said. “He throws 100 with command of two off-speed pitches. That’s not normal.”
“You only get to see a guy like this once every 25 years or so,” Thornton added. “Roger Clemens is one. Maybe Randy Johnson. But it took him a while to figure it out. Strasburg seems to have already done that.”
John Danks, another likely all star on the Chicago pitching staff, has also been impressed.
“Before his first start, we were all saying how bad we felt for him because of all the pressure and how hard it was going to be for him to live up to the hype, but he has,” Danks said.
The White Sox are hoping Strasburg has an off night. But if he doesn’t, we now know that they’ll at least enjoy watching Washignton’s new prized possession work.
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