I have to admit, I’m impressed that Mr Strasburg has been able to live up to the hype after two starts. Sooner or later, he has to come down to earth, I would think.
Our freshman outfielder at the University of Illinois hit three homeruns in his first college game against the #1 team in the nation last year. A lot was made of it nationally obviously and his name was put on the map. But one thing I remember was what our color guy (and former Illini player) said. “That’s the worst thing that could happen to him”.
Now our outfielder has been doing great since his first day but our color guy’s point is well taken. There’s a lot to be said for our sports media setting expectations and then having a player live up to them. There are Stephen Strasburg player trackers out there and every game he pitches is being live-blogged by practically everyone. What would the baseball community do if he pitched one game like a regular human being?
Despite all the hype, he’s still a 21 year old rookie with two Major League starts to his name. He’ll have some developing and growing to do even at this level. Let’s let Strasburg develop naturally and preferably with as little pressure as possible (considering he was sleeping two hours before his second start, he seems to be doing a good job of not letting it get to him).
Strasburg could turn into another Bob Feller but let’s not set the expectations so high that we turn him into a Mark Prior.