Stephen Strasburg, the 2019 World Series MVP whose career was derailed by injuries, officially was listed by Major League Baseball on Saturday as being retired.
This had been the expected outcome for quite some time, but it was unclear when — and how — word would emerge. In August, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Strasburg had decided not to try to resume pitching.
A scan of the MLB transaction list showed this simple entry: “RHP Stephen Strasburg retired.”
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The team and Strasburg confirmed the news on Sunday morning.
The 35-year-old Strasburg was a hard-throwing right-hander who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft and briefly rose to stardom, leading the franchise to the first championship in Nationals history. But he has not pitched since June 9, 2022 — his only start that season, which lasted 4 2/3 innings, before going back on the injured list.
He had surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, a nerve and blood disorder that involved removing a rib and two neck muscles.
Strasburg has thrown only 528 pitches in the majors since signing a $245 million, seven-year contract in December 2019 and did not report to spring training in 2023 or 2024.
Armed with a 100-plus mph fastball, Strasburg was touted as a generational talent when he came out of college and became one of the faces of Washington’s franchise after making his greatly anticipated debut on June 8, 2010. He struck out 14 batters and allowed two runs on four hits with no walks against the Pittsburgh Pirates to win a memorable game that became known as “Strasmas.”
After Strasburg had Tommy John surgery early in his career, the Nationals took heat for shutting him down late in the 2012 season, even though he was 15-6 with a 3.16 ERA. Without their ace, they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Division Series.
The long-term benefit of the shutdown didn’t emerge until October 2019, when Strasburg went 5-0 with a 1.98 ERA on Washington’s championship run and won each of his two starts against Houston in the World Series, which the Nationals won in Game 7.
Strasburg went 113-62 with a 3.24 ERA in 247 career regular-season starts in the majors, all with Washington. He was a three-time NL All-Star and led the National League in strikeouts with 242 in 2014 and in innings pitched with 209 in 2019, which turned out to be his last full season.