Stephen Strasburg drops some wisdom

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post spoke with Stephen Strasburg recently, and Strasburg said something that -- though no one has really mentioned it -- seems super obvious the minute Strasburg says it:

I just need to keep working to get into a routine to where it’s just auto-pilot. Answer the bell every fifth day. Kind of just get into the monotony of it, not really focusing on, like, ‘Oh, here’s his next start, Strasburg strikes again’ or whatever. It’s a ton of starts that you get in the big leagues. It’s a long road. It’s a grind. That’s kind of what I’m looking forward to. It’s still kind of the whole atmosphere of like, all the hype and stuff when I’m pitching.”

It’s true that every one of his starts has been a big event. And that’s kind of nuts. Even the top flight starters in baseball don’t get that treatment. Guys like CC Sabathia are allowed to just do their thing, with most of us looking up after a month of not paying attention to see that he has logged six starts, 43 innings and struck out a ton of dudes, all while getting the work of the season under his belt.

You can’t really quantify how stuff like “there are 15 extra reporters here and several thousand flashbulbs popping every time I pitch” affects a guy’s performance and preparation. But it’d be silly to think it has no effect. How lucky Strasburg will be when he gets a chance to simply be a joe jobber in the middle of June at some point.