Stephen Strasburg Solid in Rehab Debut

Pitching in a professional game for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery last fall, Stephen Strasburg looked like the player many remembered tearing through the minors last season on his way to the bigs.

Strasburg logged 1.2 innings of work for the Single-A Hagerstown Suns, striking out 4 and allowing 3 hits.  25 of Strasburg’s 31 pitches were for strikes and his fastball reached 97 mph on the radar gun.  The right hander told reports that he wasn’t holding anything back during his short appearance.

“When you got the adrenaline going, you really don’t know how you’re going to throw,” Strasburg said. “I went out there and once they said, ‘Play ball,’ I got that feeling back where you want to play. I wasn’t really nervous. I had pretty good expectations. I knew I wasn’t going to throw 100 [mph] every time.”

Strasburg was strong in the first of what could be 4 minor league rehab starts.  The Nationals hope to have the flamethrower back in their rotation by September.

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