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Stephen Strasburg made people care about baseball again. Even casual fans were circling their calendars and setting their DVRs to a get a glimpse of the rookie phenom. No other player in baseball garnered comparable attention.
But now it’s all over.
On Friday, the Washington Nationals announced that Strasburg has a torn elbow ligament in his pitching arm and will most likely require Tommy John surgery. While Strasburg should eventually recover, baseball will feel the pain. The sport needed Strasburg.
The 22-year-old more than lived up to the hype of being the number one overall pick of the 2009 MLB Draft. In 12 starts, Strasburg had a 2.91 ERA to go along with 92 strikeouts in only 68 innings.
Going forward, the Nationals need to be smart. Since Tommy John surgery has a 12-to-18 month recovery process, Strasburg shouldn’t only miss the rest of this season, he should be held out of next season as well. It would be unwise for Strasburg to be on the mound prior to the 2012 season.
In the meantime, people will revert to not caring about baseball anymore.
Here’s the video of the Stephen Strasburg press conference:
I’m glad to have been one of the lucky ones to get to see him pitch at maximum efficiency, and I really hope he recovers and is a force once again, no matter when he comes back.