Strasburg is expected to start in the minors this year for the Nationals but look for a quick call-up if he continues pitching like he did today. Strasburg didn’t come out fanning everyone against the Detroit Tigers but recorded an quick an uneventful 1-2-3 inning with three soft hit grounders to infielders. Strasburg would strike out the first batter he faced in the second inning the record another out on a grounder. Detroit was able to manage two singles off Strasburg before he retired the third out with another strike out to end the threat.

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.