In summing up Stephen Strasburg's debut in an interview with Jim Duquette and Kevin Kennedy on the Sirius/XM MLB Network show "Power Alley", Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, Strasburg's college coach at San Diego State University, who was in Nationals Park on Tuesday to watch the 21-year-old right-hander's 7.0 inning, 14 K performance, told the show's hosts that he, "...thought that [Strasburg] handled the nerves really well, and did a great job, kept his team in the game, and then once he got the...I mean...14 punchouts in [94] pitches, it was the kind of performance that I'd seen a lot but that the rest of the country got a chance to see how special he could really be."
Asking himself rhetorically if he was surprised at what the Nats' ace was able to do, Mr. Gwynn answered, "No." "That's great," Kennedy added enthusiastically. " "Cause like I said," Tony Gwynn continued, "...I've seen him punch out 23 in a nine-inning game that he won 1-0, and he gets that rhythm going where he's throwing his breaking ball for a strike, he's throwing changeup for a strike, and he's got that over-powering fastball, it's special, it really is." The inevitable but insightful question that followed from Mr. Kennedy asked the Hall of Fame hitter what he would do at the plate to attempt to adjust and attack the flame-throwing, control-based 4+pitch arsenal that Strasburg posseses, and Gwynn said, "...I think they're going to try to do what the Pirates did early...":
Tony Gwynn: "...He was having trouble getting ahead, and as they got to fastball counts, they were really aggressive on the fastball, you know. [Andrew] McCutchen lined out the first time up and a couple guys hit the ball right on the button, that's what you're going to do, you're going to hope that he's not locating, and try to jump on the fastball, cause I don't care if it's 112[mph], major league hitters are going to square up the fastball at some point and if you're not working ahead, that's what hitters are going do, they're going to try to be aggressive with the fastball. But, as we saw as the game went along and he started to get command and locate the fastball, now you're in trouble..."