Stephen Strasburg made his second Arizona Fall League appearance yesterday and got rocked for eight runs in 2.2 innings, serving up three homers. Chico Harlan of the Washington Post notes that Strasburg served up a grand total of just four homers in 109 innings at San Diego State this year, but in addition to the obvious upgrade in competition the AFL also boasts an incredibly hitter-friendly environment where the league as a whole is batting .302. A few ugly AFL outings may take some of the air out of Strasburg’s incredible hype, but as Matt Wieters showed this season that’s not such a bad thing and history is littered with great pitching prospects who’ve gone to Arizona to get shelled. He still throws in the high-90s regularly, still has big-time breaking stuff, and still has a very good chance of being a very good pitcher. He’s just not a fully formed Cy Young winner at the age of 21.
Stephen Strasburg is human, at least in Arizona
Published October 23, 2009 10:11 AM