Stephen Strasburg struggles as he faces third loss in a row – MLB News
The Washington Nationals’ All-Star ace Stephen Strasburg is going through a decline right now. Unable to record a victory in his last three games, dominance he showed throughout the season is waning gradually.
Although his ability to draw strike-outs remains unquestioned, not being able to restrict the flow of hits is becoming a cause of defeats.
This has triggered questions about whether the Nationals will be sticking to their plan of imposing a limit on the number of innings Strasburg will throw in the season or not.
With the kind of decline he is facing at the moment, one will say that the Nationals were correct in setting a threshold number of innings for him before the start of the season.
Strasburg had Tommy John surgery. Due to this, overburdening him in the season was strictly avoided by the Nationals. In almost all the games he started, he was withdrawn from the mound after six to seven innings and sometimes even earlier than this.
Therefore, a beginning of poor starts on the mound may encourage management to decide about his presence in the season. He may not be allowed to throw more innings after the All-Star break. A replacement may be called up soon.
Meanwhile, talking about how he struggled to keep the batters from slamming two home-runs off his throws on Friday, Strasburg stated that a change-up went right on the bat of the batter and got hammered as a result. He also praised the way the hitter showed
patience and searched for an appropriate at-bat.
“Dumb pitch,” Strasburg said. “I spiked a change-up and he swung at it. You got a guy with some power up there, that’s the last two you want to do, try and throw an elevated fastball and miss down in the zone a little bit, right into his swing plane.”
At the moment, Strasburg will be eyeing on making substantial contribution on July 10 during the All-Star Game. By putting aside the rough-up he experienced on Friday and not letting it take a toll in his head, he will be trying to feel like a true All-Star.
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