Strasburg Does Not Disappoint in Debut

Stephen Strasburg went three and a third scoreless innings in his Fall League debut as he helped the Phoenix Desert Dogs to a victory over the Scottsdale Scorpions. Amidst the high-pressure of the situation, Strasburg fared well as all eyes were on him this evening. While he had only pitched a few innings before playing in the Arizona Fall League, there had been many skeptics that were concerned about his potential performance. At Phoenix Municipal Stadium there was a large line waiting to catch a glimpse of the Washington Nationals’ first-round draft pick. With a pretty sizable crowd for a Fall League game and all of the press and media there, the stage was set.

In his first inning, Stephen would strike out two batters and force one batter into a ground out. In his second inning of pitching we experienced the type of baseball drama that you tell your kids about. His first two batters were players that had actually been called up at the end of last season. The Arizona Diamondbacks’ Brandon Allen and the San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey received huge applause as they faced Strasburg. The Giants have a pretty strong following locally due to the farm team that the Giants used to have here and the fact that their Spring Training facility is about four miles away.

Facing players with big league experience, Strasburg did not miss a beat. He would walk Allen after several pitches and was followed by Posey who grounded into a double play. The third batter would then ground out. Another double play in the third would help keep his appearance scoreless before he was removed from the game in the top of the fourth. Strasburg would make 50 pitches with 32 of them strikes, allowing no runs, two hits and striking out two.

While the Air Force is not exactly known for their baseball, after throwing a no-hitter against the team while at SDSU, we were extremely interested in how he would perform. Not to mention the hype that surrounded him for the latter half of the 2009 regular season. We admit we were skeptics but, after seeing his composure in a relatively high-pressure situation, we are excited to see what else he can do.