Hurler reaches high 90s in his first rehab start
Hagerstown, Md. — The circus never really left Stephen Strasburg. His Tommy John surgery on Sept. 3 simply granted him a temporary reprieve.
But when the Nationals’ star right-hander took the mound Sunday afternoon for the first time since his right elbow failed him, the hoopla returned intact: the autograph seekers, the cell-phone camera toting fans and the media horde with its endless questions.
Plopped right back into the fishbowl for his first minor league rehab start since surgery, Strasburg was back in his element. Pitching for the low Single-A Hagerstown Suns — the lowest level of full-season pro baseball — he allowed one earned run in just 1 2/3 innings before a capacity crowd of more than 6,000 fans at Municipal Stadium. The Greensboro Grasshoppers did manage a home run and two singles off him en route to a 7-5 victory. But Strasburg also struck out four of the eight batters he faced and threw 25 of his 31 pitches for strikes. His fearsome fastball reached into the upper 90s just as it did before he was injured.
“You’ve got to start somewhere. I was pretty happy with the command,” Strasburg said. “You’ve got the adrenaline going out there, and you really don’t know how you’re going to feel as far as being able to throw the ball where you want to throw it. But I went out there, and once they said, ‘Play ball,’ I got that feeling back real quick.”
Strasburg had spent the first four months of this season at Washington’s spring training complex in Viera, Fla., slowly rebuilding the strength in his new right elbow ligament. But there was little thought to tweaking his mechanics in the hopes of preventing another injury.
“I’ve thrown this way my whole life, and I’m not going to try and reinvent the wheel,” Strasburg said. “I think the biggest reason why I broke down was just because I got tired. I wasn’t necessarily prepared for 162 games, a full season. Unfortunately, I was the one that got hit with the injury bug, but I’ve learned a lot from it. I’m definitely in a lot better shape, and I think I’m on the right path to being able to throw 200-plus innings every year.”
