Is Curt Schilling out of his mind?

I’m going to go with yes. We understand the Stephen Strasburg hype. The guy is absolutely toying with minor-league batters. But there’s still a leap even from “This guy is the Nats’ best pitcher right now” line of thinking to Schilling’s “He will immediately – potentially – be the best pitcher in the game.”

Schilling dropped that nugget earlier this week in his role as an ESPN baseball analyst. Now, everyone knows he’s made a career of saying outlandish things. And he knows at least 500% more about baseball than I do. Also, Schilling did equivocate by throwing a pause and “potentially” in there. But seriously…best pitcher in the game? There’s still something to be said for performing on the field. Dropping the “best pitcher” label on someone who hasn’t actually thrown a pitch yet seems like an insult to Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Justin Verlander, CC Sabathia, Zack Greinke etc.

As good as Strasburg is can we say his stuff is that much better than Felix Hernandez  – a pitcher still close to his own age? Can he pitch to big-league hitters like Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright? Is he durable pitching every fifth day against the best hitters in the world? Again, I’m not even saying he can’t do all that. Just that breaking off the “best pitcher” argument now – and not, say, in early September after he posts a 3.00 ERA in 100 innings with the Nats – deserves some skepticism.