Stephen Strasburg On Track for August Return

There was one upcoming acquisition that didn’t receive much attention during deadline week, though it involves one of the most well known and promising pitchers in the game.

The Washington Nationals announced last Wednesday that they expect Stephen Strasburg to return to the club in late August or early September.

Strasburg is nearing the point of a rehab start, as he’s currently facing hitters in simulated games.

"“I know it’s going to happen, and when it happens, he’ll be ready for it,” said manager Davey Johnson. “It’s not going to be me saying to somebody down there, ‘Man, he’s throwing good, he’s ready’ — that ain’t happening. I imagine the latter part of August or early September he’ll be ready, maybe when we expand the roster.”"

The phenom was the first overall pick of the 2009 draft by the Nationals and began his meteoric rise through the minors the next season.

In 2010, Strasburg debuted at the Double-A level, and after allowing only 4 earned runs over his 5 starts, the 21 year old was moved along to his next stop in the minors.

Strasburg actually improved while pitching for the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate.  Over his 6 starts, the right hander maintained a miniscule ERA (1.08) and WHIP (0.75) while striking out 10.3 batters per 9.

His impressive opening act was noticed by baseball nation as well as the Nationals, and earned Strasburg a call to the majors in June of his first season as a professional.

Strasburg was able to carry over his success from the minors to the bigs, holding Pittsburgh to 2 runs on 4 hits over 7 strong innings.  The flame thrower struck out 14 Pirates in his debut.

His initial dominance continued, and before he had to be shutdown, Strasburg posted an ERA of 2.91 and 1.07 WHIP over 12 starts and 68 innings with the Nationals.  He produced a ridiculous SO/9 of 12.2 during that span while holding opposing hitters to a .221 batting average.

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