Stephen Strasburg- Tap the Brakes on Greatness

I know that I am the only one probably in the world saying what I am about to say but I think that we all need to start tapping the brakes on the whole Stephen Strasburg is the greatest pitcher in the Major Leagues right now.

One reason we all need to tap the brakes is that in just one start in the Major Leagues the man did have an impressive debut with 7 innings pitched and 14 strike outs, but really? This line was put up against a dismal, sorry excuse for a MLB team in the Pittsburgh Pirates who have been known as one of the laughing stocks of MLB. Just look at the line-up that the Pirates put out there. They don't have one person on that team that would even deserve to play in a Minor League All Star Game. Lets see when he pitches against the likes of St. Louis Cardinals with Albert Pujols or of the Yankees with A-Rod and Big Tex and see if we are saying the same thing about him then.

I know what its like to hear about the next great pitcher coming up into the Majors. As a big fan of the Chicago Cubs I went through two of these "great" hopes. Kerry Wood when he was coming up within the Cubs organization was tabbed as the next Roger Clemens and how he was going to set all of these strikeout records. Look at his career now since all of the hype. He had one huge game where he strikes out 20 people like Clemens did, then proceeds to have several elbow and shoulder surgeries, then he is relegated to a third tier closer who can't even stay healthy anymore. Then you have the case of Mark Prior. Big hype coming out of USC with the same strikeout ability that Wood was bringing. Prior even took almost the same route that Strasburg did where he pitched in the minors for one year then came up. Look where he is now. One great year with 16 wins and now he is trying to rehab from several injuries and trying to find some kind of control to even muster a tryout with another team.

Now I know that injuries did play a big part in the failure of these two players but in Stephen Strasburg's case, he is a hard throwing pitcher like these two were and that will take a huge toll on him in the Majors, and all it is going to take is one freak injury and he is going to be right with these two pitchers being mediocre. So when you are talking about Strasburg being the greatest, tap the brakes and wait for a few years before you make such a stupid bold statement like "He's the greatest pitcher in MLB right now."

Email me your thoughts on Strasburg at:
Eric@BigBadSportsDaddy.com