[ed. note - "Every Friday morning throughout this season, hopefully, if they'll continue to have me, I'll be writing a post over at MASNSports.com's Nationals Buzz, "... as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest," writers to their site. All opinions expressed are my own... A sample follows... You can read the entire post HERE or through the link included below."]:
Even after he blew out his elbow and had Tommy John, however, [Stephen Strasburg] was clear about the impact that he felt he'd had in his first season.
"'I stirred up the baseball world well enough that it had more people becoming Nats fans and I know they're going to be there when I come back in a year,' Strasburg told reporters after he had the procedure.
The fans were there when he returned, but so was the scrutiny. As he explained, or as teammates noted when asked about the right-hander, he was uncomfortable with all the attention mostly because he had yet to accomplish anything at the major league level. The attention that was paid to his innings limit last season was seen by some, Davey Johnson included, as a contributing factor in the team's decision to shut the right-hander down earlier than they'd planned when it all became too much.
In a recent interview on 106.7 the FAN, Rizzo described Strasburg as the, "most analyzed pitcher since I've been doing this stuff."
"We break down every minute detail of everything he does," the Nats GM said, "We get crazy when he shakes his arm too much and when he gives up two or three runs in a ballgame, but this guy is one of the elite pitchers and he's continued to be an elite pitcher."
• Read the entire post over at MASN's Nationals Buzz through the link below:
@masnsports guest blogger Patrick Reddington of Federal Baseball on #Nationals Strasburg and his voice: http://t.co/jXcA4odYnw
— Pete Kerzel (@masnPete) July 26, 2013