For the powerhouses of Major League Baseball, September holds some of the most important games of the season. But this year, as usual, it’s another meaningless month for the Washington Nationals. The beleaguered franchise has dwelled in the basement of the National League’s Eastern Division for its entire tenure in D.C. (and for most of its stay in Montreal), following occasional flickers of talent with spirit-crushing ineptitude. As the 17,000 who witnessed their 5-2 defeat at the hands of division leader Philadelphia this Tuesday can attest, the last-place Nats are abysmal.
But near the end of yet another dismal season, there is finally some cause for optimism: number one draft pick Stephen Strasburg, a towering power pitcher out of San Diego State recently signed a four-year, $15.1 million contract to pitch for the organization. While Strasburg isn’t the first player charged with the task of single-handedly rejuvenating the franchise, there’s good reason to believe he’ll be the first to actually do it.
The 6’4”, 220-pound righty was the most dominant college pitcher in recent memory, finishing the 2009 season with 195 strikeouts in 109 innings pitched and an absurdly low 1.32 ERA. At times, he was unhittable, striking out 23 batters in a single game against Utah. His main weapon: a fastball that’s said to have reached 103 miles per hour, which would make him one of the fastest pitchers ever.
If Strasburg is able to manhandle pro batters the way he did in college, the Nationals could have a legitimate franchise player. Of course, asking a rookie to carry the entire 52-man roster to glory singlehandedly seems implausible.
Still, this type of one-man turnaround has happened before. For their first 12 seasons as a major-league team, from 1977 to 1989, the Seattle Mariners were a disaster, without a single winning season. But just two years after the 1989 debut of Ken Griffey, Jr., the Mariners had a winning record. Building around the charismatic and talented Griffey, Seattle became a perennial contender in the American League West.
Of course, it’s impossible to tell at this point whether Strasburg will have a similar impact on the Nats, and the fact that starting pitchers only take the field once every five days makes it less likely that he’ll be able to engineer a Griffey-style turnaround. Even so, his arrival is generating excitement among fans; hundreds showed up five hours early to an August game to watch Strasburg give an on-field press conference.
Fans will have to wait until at least 2010 to see him on the mound, as the team announced he won’t be pitching at all this season. And for good reason: the Nats currently have the worst record in baseball, lining them up for another number one draft pick, this time with the chance to choose wunderkind slugger and Sports Illustrated cover boy Bryce Harper.
But as the Nats flounder through another pointless September, it’s the perfect time to look forward to next season, when the Strasburg-led team will take the field in the shiny, year-old Nationals Park. For basement-dwellers like the Nats, tomorrow always seems brighter than today, but if Strasburg pans out in the pros, tomorrow may finally come.
Give Sean a reason to hope at squigley@georgetownvoice.com
