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PERSONAL:
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- Strasburg was a fan of the Padres while growing up in the area. He was born in San Diego and pitched for West Hills High in Santee, about 10 miles northeast of the San Diego State University campus. His senior year, Stephen had a 1.68 ERA with 74 strikeouts in 62 innings. He threw 90 mph.
Stephen was 6-foot-4, but weighed 250 pounds and did not wear it well. At times he seemed undisciplined on the mound.
"I was a chubby kid, with a poor mental game out there," Strasburg admitted. He had never lifted weights in his life, and after practice every day went to Estrada's Taco Shop and scarfed down a California burrito, packed with carne asada, and french fries. He was so heavy his knees would occasionally buckle while on the mound because they couldn't support his weight.
And, he would get upset with teammates when they made mistakes, and he would completely lose his composure on the mound at other times. He would even challenge his coach and the umpires. Pro scouts backed off completely.
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In high school, Stephen had quit basketball and soccer because they interfered with travel baseball season, part I, and travel baseball season, part II. He moved out of his dorm five days into college because the noise prevented him from getting a full sleep before morning practice. Though Strasburg had reported to college at 250 pounds, the torture of sweating off the extra weight never prevented him from wanting to. First to show up, first to throw up—that's how it worked during his freshman year conditioning sessions, when he trimmed down to 225. He was a straight arrow in the classroom. Carried a 4.67 grade-point average in high school. Picked up his baseball mitt every day of the year. Never even attended a concert until January 2009.
"He knows how to close in on a goal," his mother, Kathy Swett, said.
But when he got to San Diego State as a freshman, pitching coach Rusty Filter told Stephen that pro scouts saw him as a kid that lacked mental toughness and coachablity.
"When Coach Filter tole me what everybody was saying behind my back, that really pissed me off," Strasburg said. "I was out there to prove them all wrong. To this day, that's kind of a sore spot in my heart. But it's fueled the fire to get me where I am today."
Strasburg shed almost 30 pounds his first year at SDSU, developing muscle and tone. And he added 8 mph between his freshman and sophomore seasons, eventually hitting 101 mph. Stephen added Bikram yoga classes to improve his concentration and flexibility. His mom, Kathleen Swett, a retired dietitian, taught him how to cook his own healthy burritos.
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Strasburg was the only amateur on an Olympic team of professionals in August, 2008. He ahd already donned the Team USA uniform early in the summer of 2008, starring for the college national team. He was 3-0, 1.33 over 27 innings, striking out 40. He made news with a 23-strikeout effort in a complete-game one-hit shutout of Utah in April.Stephen went 8-3 with a 1.57 ERA for San Diego State in the spring of 2008, striking out 133 and only walking 16 in 97 innings.On May 8, 2009, Strasburg threw his first career no-hitter (since Little League) while facing an aggressive Air Force lineup at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs won, 5-0, in front of a stadium-record crowd of 3,337. Stephen struck out 17 while throwing a fairly economical 116 pitches.
He started the game by striking out two of the game's first three batters looking, and he punctuated it by striking out the side in the ninth to end it, throwing down his glove and jumping into his catcher's arms in jubilation. He also struck out the side in the second and the sixth. The only inning he didn't record a strikeout was in the eighth, and he was never really challenged.
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Strasburg says his favorite athlete is Jake Peavy.On June 9, 2009: Strasburg was the very first player chosen in the draft, by the Washington Nationals.
And just moments before midnight on August 17, 2009, the deadline to sign, Stephen agreed to a record-setting $15.1 million bonus spread over four years, plus incentives. Mark Baca is the scout who signed Strasburg.In the winter before 2010 spring training, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook named Strasburg as the #1 prospect in the Nationals organization.Stephen has great makeup both on and off the field.
He is low-key and a home-body who likes to stay out of the public eye.
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The very first hit Strasburg gave up was in the Arizona Fall League after the 2009 regular season. The was by OF Thomas Neal of the Giants' organization. Perhaps familiarity was involved as Neal and Strasburg played on the same traveling squad, the San Diego Sting, when they were 11 years old.January 9, 2010: Strasburg and his wife, the former Rachelle Lackey, were married before several hundred friends and family members at a winery outside San Diego. The couple dated for 18 months before getting married.
Stephen and Rachelle had met at "State," as he calls his alma mater. Of her, he says: "We're great together, and we're really excited to start our new life together. I need her by my side as much as she needs me."
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They honeymooned in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, and Stephen had his baseball glove in his carry-on luggage. Every other day, he would drive to Kauai High School to throw a bullpen session. The catcher, Lanan Rice-Kashima—"Put his name in there; he'll get a kick out of that," Strasburg said—was a 5-foot-9, 165-pound high school ballplayer whose services had been lined up in advance by Strasburg's agents. At the start of Strasburg's first spring training in February 2010, he was nicknamed Jesus.
Why Jesus? " 'Cause what's the first thing you say when you see him pitch?" center fielder Nyjer Morgan said, excited just to answer his own question. "Jeee-sus!" Stephen says his wife is his best friend. Rachel was a woter polo player in high school. Early in the 2010 season, they bought a little Yorkie they named Bentley.
They are a very normal, down-to-earth couple.
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PITCHING:
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- Strasburg is a power pitcher with a 95-103 mph rising 4-seam FASTBALL, a 90-95 mph 2-seam sinker, a fine sweeping SLIDER (he calls it a slider, scouts call it a curve) that has a nasty two-plane breaking pitch, and a solid CHANGEUP.
- Stephen has the stuff to be a #1 starter on a Major League pitching staff.
- He is 6 feet 4, broad shoulders but wiry, sharp command, a cold stare, and a fastball so good that it's nearly apocryphal.
Strasburg knows how to use every bit of his 6-foor-4 frame. His arm angle is such that, when he comes downhill with that 98 mph-plus fastball, nobody can hit it.
At the top of his delivery he turns his left hip slightly toward third base, as if pulling back a bow and arrow, and then unloads with a high three-quarter release. It is very smooth. It just doesn't look like he's throwing as hard as he is.
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Stephen throws strikes. He has excellent control with all of his pitches, and he also has very advanced command within the strike zone. There are a few baseball people who have concern that Strasburg eventually could break down because he locks out his elbow on his follow through, putting torque on his shoulder. But none of those people would even suggest changing any of his mechanics.
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