According to ESPNs Keith Law Stephen Strasburg is the top pitching prospect. Here is his scouting report.
Strasburg is the best starting pitcher in the Washington organization right now, and if he's not their No. 1 starter on Opening Day 2010 (for developmental or financial reasons), he almost certainly will be that guy by midyear. Strasburg will pitch at 94-98 mph as a starter -- maybe a tick less once he's working every fifth day and making 30-34 starts a year -- and has touched 100 repeatedly in the past, usually on a full week of rest. He has good life on the fastball to his glove side, and his curveball is as hard as a typical slider, with sharp late tilt that he uses to bury the pitch down and in to left-handed batters. He has a hard changeup with a screwball-ish fading action, but he rarely had to use it as an amateur because -- let's face it -- not many college hitters were going to square up a 98 mph fastball with life. What sets Strasburg apart from most pitchers who can throw 100 mph, even those who do it in relief, is how easily he does it, with tremendous arm speed and a delivery that he repeats well, featuring a long stride to the plate that has helped him pick up velocity since high school. He's a solid athlete with good body control and has very little to learn from dominating minor league hitters, so any internship he has in Washington's farm system should be brief. The pitching-starved Nationals certainly could use him.
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