Stephen Strasburg and 10 Flamethrowers Who Will Challenge 20-Strikeout Record

On Thursday night in Pittsburgh, Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg struck out 13 Pittsburgh Pirates. Those 13 strikeouts were the most strikeouts in a single start for Strasburg since he struck out 14 Pirates in his major league debut in 2010.

Strasburg now has a National League-best 51 strikeouts on the season, and that comes as no real surprise. His stuff has been absolutely filthy all season, and the fact that he can locate it makes him even more dangerous. He can strike out any player, any day, any time.

The high-water mark for Strasburg is 14 punchouts, but he's going to beat that someday. He's capable of striking out upwards of 15 hitters in a game, and he's one of few pitchers in baseball with a legit shot at challenging the MLB record of 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game.

If he's one, who are the others?

Glad you asked. Let's take a look. 

Brandon Beachy, Atlanta Braves

Admittedly, Brandon Beachy would have been a better candidate for a 20-strikeout game last year.

Not a whole lot of people noticed, but Beachy was a strikeout machine in 2011. He had a K/9 of 10.74, highest in the majors for pitchers with at least 140 innings pitched.

This year, Beachy's K/9 is down to 6.23. Striking out fewer guys is working out just fine for him, as his ERA is well under 2.00 and he has a respectable 3-1 record. He can chalk up his success to improved pitch efficiency and a high ground-ball rate (43.5 percent).

Beachy still has the goods to rack up strikeouts in a given game, however. His fastball has a ton of late life, and he's got a killer slider that he can use to get swings and misses.

At this stage of his career, Beachy is learning as he goes along how to pitch to contact and to keep his pitch count down. Getting strikeouts isn't as much of a priority as it was last year.

Once Beachy masters this stage, he'll be one of those guys who knows when to go for strikeouts, and he'll still have the stuff to get them. On a day when his stuff is particularly nasty, his strikeouts will climb closer and closer to the fabled 20 plateau. 

Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers

Six starts in to his major league career, Yu Darvish is averaging just over 10 strikeouts every nine innings. We've seen him strike out at least 10 batters in a game twice, and he set a career high with 11 strikeouts in his last start against the Cleveland Indians.

Darvish's stuff is absolutely filthy. He throws his fastball in the mid 90s, and he complements it with a nasty slider and a nasty curve that he uses to get swings-and-misses on two-strike counts. He's made a lot of good hitters look silly this season.

The only thing worth worrying about when it comes to Darvish is his control, particularly as it pertains to his fastball. He'll occasionally paint the black with his fastball, but his fastball command is anything but consistent. For every fastball he throws in the zone, he throws several well outside the zone.

If Darvish can get his fastball control, um, under control, the sky's the limit. He'll be able to use it to get ahead in the count on a more consistent basis, and then hitters will be forced to deal with his vicious breaking stuff.

Against a bad lineup, he could easily strike out 20 hitters.

Gio Gonzalez, Washington Nationals

Gio Gonzalez's transition over to the National League has gone very well. Through six starts, he boasts a record of 3-1 with a 1.72 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP.

Presently, Gonzalez's K/9 is a career-high 10.06. He hasn't yet racked up double-digit strikeouts in a single game, but it's just a matter of time before he does. He just needs to be more efficient with his pitches.

That's an area where Gonzalez has improved this season, but he still has room to get better. The path he's been on over the last couple seasons suggests he will get better. He's having a great season this year, but he could very well be one of the best pitchers in all of baseball next season.

Gonzalez's fastball is one of the better fastballs you're going to see from a left-handed pitcher these days, and his curveball is a real knee-buckler. To make matters worse for NL hitters, his changeup is getting better.

Down the road, Gonzalez is going to be the total package, a pitcher capable of going deep into games and striking out a ton of hitters along the way. On a good day against a bad lineup, he'll have 20 strikeouts in his sights. 

Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners

I hesitated to include Felix Hernandez on this list, primarily because he has long since learned that you don't need to strike out the world to pitch a good ballgame.

Nonetheless, King Felix can still rack up strikeouts in bunches. He struck out 12 against the Cleveland Indians back in April, and he's struck out nine batters in each of his last two starts.

Hernandez is dangerous in large part because he can locate his fastball low in the zone consistently, and that sets hitters up for two-strike off-speed pitches that drop well out of the zone. In a given start, you'll see Hernandez get a lot of swinging third strikes on balls nowhere close to the strike zone.

On a good day, Hernandez's ceiling is right about at 12-13 strikeouts. That's obviously a long way off from 20, but how many other pitchers can honestly say their strikeout ceiling is right about at 12-13?

Not many. Hernandez is one of the best there is, and he most definitely has the stuff to rack up a ton of strikeouts in a single game.

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

Clayton Kershaw led the National League in strikeouts last year, but strikeouts have been much harder for him to come by this season.

In 2011, Kershaw was among the league leaders with a 9.57 K/9. This year, his K/9 is down to 8.08. 

It's not like there's been a huge dropoff as far as Kershaw's stuff is concerned. What he's going through this year is a simple regression, one that was bound to happen after he dominated the NL in 2011.

Last year, Kershaw struck out at least 10 batters in seven of his 33 starts, topping out at 12 against the San Francisco Giants. It may not come this year, but he's going to have another game like that at some point down the line.

All it will take is a day when Kershaw has his fastball, his changeup and his curveball all working in harmony. On a day like that, nobody's going to be able to touch him, and he could easily make a run at 20 strikeouts.

Matt Moore, Tampa Bay Rays

In three appearances last season, Matt Moore had a K/9 over 14.00.

This is why us baseball fans must be careful never to freak out over a very small sample size. Moore looked dominant in his brief time in the majors last year. This year, he's looked like a rookie.

Which he is, of course. Moore has tremendous stuff, but he hasn't quite gotten on track yet this season. His ERA is close to 6.00, and he has a modest K/9 of 7.27 and an ugly BB/9 of 4.67.

There is one thing Moore has going for him, though, and that's his average fastball velocity. Per FanGraphs, he's among the hardest throwers in the league with a fastball that checks in at an average of 94.1 miles per hour.

No surprise there. Moore brings the heat, and he makes it look way too easy. He also shows off a killer slider and a nasty changeup that's going to be death to right-handed hitters as he continues to evolve as a pitcher.

Give Moore one more year. Maybe two. It's just a matter of time before he's one of the best pitchers in baseball, and he's a guy who will routinely be striking out 10 or more hitters in single games. One day, he'll make a run at 20.

Brandon Morrow, Toronto Blue Jays

As expected, Brandon Morrow is quietly becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball this season.

You expected this to happen, right? After all, Morrow posted a K/9 over 10.00 in 2010 and 2011. All he needed to do was improve his control, and he's done that this season. His BB/9 is down to 2.27, and he's only throwing about 15 pitches per inning after throwing more than 17 pitches per inning in 2010 and 2011.

Morrow's K/9 has dropped to 7.36 this season, but he's showed in recent starts that he's still a dangerous strikeout artist. He's struck out at least eight in each of his last three starts, topping out at 10 against the Oakland A's on Wednesday.

Morrow is a classic fastball-slider pitcher. It just so happens he consistently throw his fastball in the mid 90s with very subtle late movement, and his slider looks like a wiffle-ball pitch. 

When Morrow is on, he's filthy. He'll make a run at 20 someday.

Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers

There's nothing wrong with Max Scherzer's stuff. It's tremendous.

His problem is controlling it. Scherzer is throwing over 18 pitches per inning this season, and his BB/9 of 3.58 is way too high. His BB/9 was 2.58 last year.

Nonetheless, Scherzer has been striking hitters out pretty regularly this season. He's struck out nine hitters in each of his last two starts, and he struck out 11 White Sox earlier in the season. His K/9 is currently a major league-best 10.75.

Scherzer showed back on May 30th of 2010 that he can rack up strikeouts in bunches. That day, he struck out 14 Oakland A's in just 5.2 innings. He was done in by four walks and had to be removed after throwing 113 pitches.

Heaven help the American League if Scherzer ever finds out a way to control his stuff consistently. He'll routinely notch double-digit strikeouts, and the 20-strikeout mark will be in jeopardy every time he takes the mound.

Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals

It didn't take long for Stephen Strasburg to prove that he's something special. In his very first start, he went out and struck out 14 hitters.

His career took a turn for the worse soon after, but it's back on the right track now. Strasburg has been the most dominant pitcher in the National League this season, and he added to his legend by striking out 13 hitters on Thursday night.

Per FanGraphs, Strasburg is throwing his fastball harder than any other starting pitcher in the majors. It's checking in at an AVERAGE of 96 miles per hour. He can crank it up faster than that if he wants to.

To go along with his fastball, Strasburg throws a killer curve and a killer changeup that hitters have to be mindful of. But the second they go looking for offspeed stuff, Strasburg can zip a 98-mph fastball directly by them.

I doubt he'll do it this year, but Strasburg is going to make a run at the 20-strikeout mark down the road. It's inevitable.

Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

Not unlike Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander is a guy who figured out long ago that you don't need to strike out tons of hitters to pitch a good ballgame.

Verlander has his moments, though. He struck out nine Royals in a game earlier this season, and he struck out 14 Diamondbacks last June. And despite the fact I wouldn't call him a strikeout pitcher, he did led the league in strikeouts last season with 250.

With Verlander, it's all about the fastball, the curveball and the changeup. The last two pitches are always nasty, but Verlander's fastball remains his best pitch. He'll sit consistently in the low 90s with it, but every now and then, he'll dial it up to 100 miles per hour.

It was a bit of a surprise when Verlander struck out 14 hitters last season, but that's the kind of stuff he brings to the table. On a good day against an overmatched lineup, he'll surpass 14 and go for 20.

If you want to talk baseball and/or the philosophical teaching of Jeffrey Lebowski, hit me up on Twitter.