Kid's been clocked @ 102 mph..................and has stuff, to boot! The current question: Will the Nats even be able to sign him?? EDIT: Sorry, please move to the OT forum.
He could. He's one of the best pitching prospects ever. But then, projecting pitching prospects is nearly impossible due to the enormous injury risk. There's almost a 50% chance that he'll be injured, and that could alter or derail his career. There's no question that he's supremely talented. As for signing him, they must believe they can since they picked him. They've probably been talking to Boras since before the draft. Supposedly Boras plans to treat Strasburg like a professional star pitcher entering the league, along the lines of Daisuke Matsuzaka, and ask for something like a $50 million deal. Strasburg is going to destroy amateur signing bonus records. It'll be interesting to see if he lives up to it.
Mark Prior with 4 more mph on the heater out of college. The guy falls over his shoes throwing, errrr pitching the ball. I wouldn't have drafted him.
You mean that you don't like his mechanics? Prior's inverted-w form wasn't flagged as a problem until after he suffered his injuries, and it's still questionable whether they really were bad mechanics or just an attempt to explain his injuries. I suspect, though, that the Nationals will be very careful with him and use the latest biometrics to ensure his mechanics are perfect. I would definitely have drafted him...he has like four pitches that grade at plus to plus-plus and tremendous velocity.
I thought they did research on it, and it put more stress on the elbow? Once Prior messed up his arm, it just couldn't heal b/c of the form he had. BTW -- He was clocked @ 103 MPH this year
Well, originally, scouts raved about his "perfect" form and mechanics. After his injuries, there was after-the-fact criticism of his mechanics, which I don't think has generated consensus. Some people feel his inverted-w mechanics put too much stress on his elbow, some feel he was abused by his managers, much like Kerry Wood. Has their been criticism of Strasburg's mechanics? I haven't heard any.
