Few pitchers were as surgical, intimidating, and overpowering in the 2010s as Washington Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg.
He made his MLB debut in 2010 and did nothing but dominate from that moment onward.
The peak of his MLB career, collectively speaking, came in 2019 when he was named the World Series MVP after dominating the Houston Astros in the Fall Classic.
After that, everything started to collapse.
He started to report the first symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome in 2020, and his career went on a downward spiral since that point until Thursday, when Nationals insider Barry Svrluga announced he will be retiring.
“BREAKING: Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg will retire. The World Series MVP and former No. 1 pick in the draft, who couldn’t overcome complications from thoracic outlet syndrome, is tentatively planning a September announcement. (w @dougherty_jesse),” he tweeted.
BREAKING: Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg will retire. The World Series MVP and former No. 1 pick in the draft, who couldn't overcome complications from thoracic outlet syndrome, is tentatively planning a September announcement. (w @dougherty_jesse)https://t.co/DM33q5F4J5
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) August 24, 2023
Real baseball fans will remember Strasburg as a dominant pitcher when healthy.
If he indeed threw the last pitch of his marvelous career, he will be retiring with a phenomenal 3.24 ERA, 113 wins, a World Series title, and 1,723 strikeouts in just 1,470 innings.
He surpassed 200 strikeouts in a season three times, and was a three-time All-Star.
He was diagnosed with “severe nerve damage” in June, so his chances of making a successful comeback were too slim.
Now, he goes into retirement at 35 years old and not too long after having signed a huge seven-year, $245 million contract with the Nationals.
That contract was a failure, but certainly wasn’t Strasburg’s fault.
Nobody is at fault for getting injured.
Nationals fans prefer to keep the good times in their memories.
There were plenty of those.
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