Strasburg and Storen Ready To Transform Nationals Into Winners

When the first round of last summer’s amateur draft came to an end, the Washington Nationals had significantly improved themselves by selecting pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Drew Storen.

Usually, it takes several years before a team knows whether their first-round selection was a success. Since picking Ryan Zimmerman in 2005, the Nationals have selected eight players in the first-round (including Strasburg and Storen). The jury is still out on Colton Willems, Christopher Marrero, Michael Burgess, Josh Smoker, and Ross Detwiler. Aaron Crow never signed with the team.

Of those players, only Marrero seems certain to have a major league career in the offing.

So you never know.

Well, you almost never know. There is little doubt that this year’s picks, Stephen Strasburg and Drew Storen, will arrive in Washington soon and once here will be part of the Nationals’ franchise for years to come.

Both players now have enough professional innings under their belts to begin to get a sense of the type of players they will be.

Here are Strasburg’s numbers, which include his two outings in the Florida Instructional League. I have, however, omitted his outing earlier this month when he gave up seven runs in three innings; I think his body was taken over by the spirit of some long-dead 20-game loser.

Seriously, I have heard more than one ESPN radio jockey say that Strasburg is causing the Nationals concern because he’s not pitching well in Arizona. In other words, they look at his 4.16 ERA and make assumptions.

Let’s not make assumptions. Take a look at his numbers:

Innings Pitched: 21

Hits: 13

Runs: 3

Walks: 3

Strikeouts: 25

ERA: 1.28

Batting Average-Against: .219

Strikeouts per 9 Innings: 10.7

Walks per 9 Innings: 1.2

Just like in college, Strasburg is a strikeout machine while walking almost no one. Based on a full major league season, Strasburg would be on pace to strikeout 250 while walking just 30.

Yeah, that’s crazy.

Tracy Ringolsby of Foxsports.com wrote recently that the Nationals need to go slow with Strasburg, that they need to keep him in the minor leagues until he’s ready to succeed at a major league level.

Ringolsby said that the Nationals should keep him the minors until he dominates them.

Well, he’s dominating the Arizona Fall League, which is comprised of the very best prospects in the minor leagues. And on top of that, it’s is a hitter's league.

How much more dominating does he need to be?

If Strasburg pitches well next spring—I’m talking 15 innings, 20 strikeouts and an ERA under 3.00 here—then there is no reason for him not to start the season in Washington.

Unlike Strasburg, who signed his contract with just seconds left before the deadline, Drew Storen signed the very next day and quickly reported to Class A Hagerstown, ready to dominate the league.

Right up until he got tagged for a long home run by the first batter he faced.

Since then, however, Storen has been even more dominating than Strasburg, if that’s possible. He was promoted to High-A Potomac and again to AA Harrisburg before the season ended.

Here are Storen’s statistics, which include his Arizona Fall League numbers:

Innings Pitched: 50

Hits: 37

Runs: 9

Walks: 11

Strikeouts: 62

ERA: 1.61

Batting Average-Against: .203

Strikeouts per 9 Innings: 11.1

Walks per 9 Innings: 1.51

Though Storen seems ready to take over as the Nationals’ closer in 2010, the team is considering bringing back Mike MacDougal and is looking at established, veteran closers like Mike Gonzalez and Virginia native Billy Wagner.

It would seem that the only way Nationals’ fans see Drew Storen in 2010 is if they buy a plane ticket to Syracuse. And really, the team is right for going slow with Storen. Terrible teams don’t need dominant closers.

Better to wait until 2011 when the Nationals will have Strasburg for the full season along with a healthy Jordan Zimmermann.

Baseball America lists Strasburg and Storen as the team’s top two prospects, and they are right of course. They will fill two of the biggest holes in the Nationals’ roster, and the two of them could help turn the team around quickly.

It’s happened before.

The Houston Astros won just 76 games in 1995 and decided to bring up a couple of young pitchers towards the end of the season to give them some seasoning.

The following year, Houston won 82 games and finished second in their division behind the pitching of Mike Hampton and Billy Wagner. The Astros went on to win their division four of the next five years.

Yes, it can happen that fast. Here’s hoping it happens for the Nationals.