At 1:05 pm EST tomorrow in Viera, Florida's Space Coast Stadium, the Washington Nationals will welcome the Detroit Tigers into their spring home for a game big enough that MASN, MLB.tv, Charlie and Dave and the MLB Network will all be there to cover it...The Spring Training debut of the Nationals' 21-year-old right-handed starter Stephen Strasburg, the '09 no.1 overall pick, who brings his plus plus arsenal to the mound against (non-National) major league competition for the very first time. 

Washington Nationals' Skipper Jim Riggleman was on Sirius/XM's MLB Home Plate's Baseball This Morning, uh, this morning...with hosts Rob Dibble and Steve Davis to talk about Strasburg's Spring Training debut and what's expected of the former SDSU Aztec starter: 

Jim Riggleman: "What I hope for is that he just has this nice clean delivery that he's given so far in all of his bullpen appearances, all of his batting practice days. He's just really got a nice solid delivery, the ball's coming out of his hand real good. There will probably be some butterflies and as you said, some cameras and stuff, but you know, that's a good step for him to get used to that, because that's the way it's going to be for him early on in his career, there's gonna be a lot of hype and attention to him...So we want him to get in his two innings in, get in his work..."

Mr. Dibble, who's headed to Florida to appear on tomorrow's live broadcast in his other job as a MASN tv analyst, says that he'd be surprised if Strasburg does have a good outing with all the hype that's preceded his debut against MLB competition, and Dibble asks Mr. Riggleman how Strasburg's handling the lead-up to tomorrow afternoon's game:

Jim Riggleman: "He's handled it great. He's really a very humble kid. He's embarrassed by the attention. He's saying all the right things. He's really a, you know, real well-grounded kid. He recently got married. He's just in a great place in his life and he's handling everything real well, but you made a great point. He may not have a good outing, and I think that's just, what you just said right there is great because those type of comments can help people understand that this is a human being out here trying to pitch and get through some (murderers?), now he may go out there and strike out six in two innings and that's a non-issue, but we're more concerned with how the ball's coming out of his hand and how he responds on his next day and the day after that as far as his getting ready for a side session, are there any aches and pains and so forth...

Rob Dibble: Are you going to have Ivan Rodriguez catch him for his few innings?

Jim Riggleman: "You know, just the way things have worked out it will be [Wil] Nieves, Ivan has spent time with Strasburg, but the way the rotation has worked out with Pudge, and some personal issues, he's not going to available to catch that day, so it'll be Nieves catching, who, you know, Nieves does a good job behind the plate, I think he'll handle him fine." 

• As fate would have it, Strasburg's debut lines him up against the Tigers' own phenom, 21-year-old, right-handed Morristown, NJ-native and Seton Hall Prep product Rick Porcello, who didn't turn twenty-one til six months after Strasburg, but was drafted two years before the Nationals' future ace, taken out of high school 27th overall in the 1st Round of the '07 Draft by Detroit and signed to a 4-year/$7.285 million dollar major league deal which included a $3.58M dollar bonus. Porcello spent a full season pitching at A-ball in the Tigers' system before making Detroit's Opening Day roster out of Spring Training last March and completing a (14-9) rookie campaign in which he posted a 3.96 ERA (116 ERA+, 4.77 FIP) in 31 starts and 170.2 IP, collecting 89 K's (4.69 K/9) and allowing 52 walks (2.74 BB/9) and 23 HR's (1.21 HR/9) in a season that would end with Porcello starting a one-game playoff against the Minnesota Twins to see which team made it to the postseason...The Tigers lost, but it wasn't Porcello's fault...

• The Tigers' future ace isn't the only one interested in facing Strasburg, as his teammate Miguel Cabrera, (who, in case you forgot since he moved to the AL, kills Nationals' pitching to the tune of a .326 career AVG with a .453 OBP and a .631 SLG (that's 1.084 OPS), with 16 doubles, 21 HR's and 75 RBI's collected in just 82 games against the Nationals/Expos), told Detroit Free Press sports writer John Lowe that he looked forward to facing Strasburg in an article entitled, "Tigers excited to face Nationals' Stephen Strasburg: 'Let's see what he's got'", wherein Mr. Cabrera is quoted stating:

"It's going to be exciting facing him,' Cabrera said today. 'Everybody is talking about him. He's the future for Washington. Let’s see what he's got. I'm excited to face him.

Asked how he'll approach his first at bats against the young pitcher Cabrera responds the way you'd expect any 7-year MLB vet who's seen can't miss prospects come and go to respond, "I'm going to swing the bat,' Cabrera said. 'I'm sure he throws hard. I'm going to be ready.'" 

• If the Tigers want to know what it's like to face Strasburg, MASNSports.com's Byron Kerr (who's done great interviews all winter and Spring) spoke to UVA head baseball coach Brian O'Connor, who coached Nats' FOF Ryan Zimmerman when he was in college and faced Stephen Strasburg last season when Strasburg's Aztecs met the Virginia Cavs in the 2009 NCAA baseball tournament, defeating the then-20-year-old right-hander, who allowed 2 ER on 8 hits in a game in which he struck out 15 without allowing a walk, though he did surrender 1 HR... Mr. O'Connor's opinion?:

"Brian O'Connor: "I'm a big fan of Stephen Strasburg. We fortunately were able to win the game and it kind of catapulted us all the way to Omaha (site of the CWS), with that big victory, but I was really impressed with him, and I've told people ever since he pitched against us that in my years of playing college baseball and coaching college baseball, he is hands-down the best college pitcher that I have seen on a field, and he's got electric stuff and can throw the ball where he wants to and I just think the future's really bright for him." 

• MLB.com's Bill Ladson quotes DC Pitching Coach Steve McCatty in Mr. Ladson's own Strasburg Day article entitled, "Strasburg debuts on MLB.TV", where Mr. McCatty relays the advice he offered Strasburg before his big day: 

"'I told him, 'Pitch like you can and don't worry about pleasing everybody else.' McCatty told Strasburg. 'I'm sure he is going to be out there and the juices will be flowing. I'm excited.'"

• Strasburg's first throwing session, his first Florida Instructional League start, his Arizona Fall League debut, and now his first Spring Training start...after this all that's left is his MLB debut...1:05 pm EST live from Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida, it's Stephen Strasburg's Spring Training debut...Is there any way in the world you're going to miss this?