Stephen Strasburg, who is arguably the best pitcher in the history of the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, may have thrown his final pitch in professional baseball.
Strasburg has pitched just eight times since the beginning of 2020, missing time with arm issues. Now, the end may be near for Strasburg’s career, as more nerve issues have derailed his recent comeback from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. According to The Washington Post, Strasburg has not even traveled with the team this season.
The end of a stellar career for Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals?
The 2019 season was a storybook run for Washington, who clinched a Wild Card spot with a 93-69 record before eventually defeating Houston in an epic seven-game World Series. An integral part of that championship run was Strasburg, who totaled 36.1 innings in that postseason, winning World Series MVP. Oh yeah, the Nationals rewarded Strasburg’s heroic effort with a seven-year, $245 million contract in the offseason.
Strasburg entered the league as one of the most hyped draft prospects ever, becoming the first overall pick of the 2009 draft. The second of back-to-back first overall picks by Washington was Bryce Harper in 2010. A summer 2010 debut was one of the most anticipated debuts in recent memory, with Strasburg striking out 14 batters across seven innings. Following the debut were 11 more starts, before Tommy John ended Strasburg’s rookie season prematurely. Unfortunately, this was a foreshadowing of things to come. However, from 2012-2019, Strasburg was one of the best starters in baseball, never registering an ERA above 3.74, and three times finishing in the top 10 of Cy Young voting.
So the Nationals went all in for 2019, and were rewarded with a World Series championship. Since then however, yikes. Nothing seems to be going right for the Nationals, with Strasburg’s never-ending injury saga and trading away generational star Juan Soto. Currently, Washington is 25-33, good for last place in the NL East. This is not expected to be a contending season for the Nationals, and 2024 does not bring much more optimism. For Strasburg, his star has burnt out quicker than expected, but what a bright star it was.