The Kid Stays in the Picture

[Theoldmole]

Looks like Strasburg lived up to the hype. As long as he doesn't follow in the footsteps of Karl Spooner and blow his arm out, or even worse, in the footsteps of JR Richard.

[metirish]

I watched some of the press conference after the game , seems like a decent sort.

" hey Steve do yo purposely try to strike guys out"

" I used to sometimes , but striking out guys is luck, I want to pitch to contact"

easy to say that when you have that fastball

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

metirish wrote: " I used to sometimes , but striking out guys is luck, I want to pitch to contact"

Psst! Steve! Your opinion's on backwards!

[Frayed Knot]

The obvious comparison in terms of the WOW!! factor is Kerry Woods' 20-K performance as a 20 y/o, a game which, I believe, came in his 5th start.
Woods was younger at the time and didn't have the same build up, lofty draft pick, or contract coming in. But neither did he have the same track record or expectations so his gem was more out of nowhere and under the radar (it was even a day game). I do remember Francesa locking on to the game as it was happening while alerting and updating his listeners as to what was going on so the buzz (at least in NY) kind of grew from there.

[metirish]

An always worth reading look at Wood's gem ten years later

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2008/05/05/2008-05-05_its_been_10_years_since_kerry_wood_set_b.html

[Valadius]

Kerry Wood was a phenomenal talent, very sad that his career ended up the way it did.

[TransMonk]

I thought this thread was going to be about how Gary Carter had been hired somewhere in the organization.

Whew.

[Gwreck]

Valadius wrote: Kerry Wood was a phenomenal talent, very sad that his career ended up the way it did.

He's the closer for the Cleveland Indians. He's making $10.5 million dollars this year to play baseball.

[Valadius]

Gwreck wrote: Valadius wrote: Kerry Wood was a phenomenal talent, very sad that his career ended up the way it did. He's the closer for the Cleveland Indians. He's making $10.5 million dollars this year to play baseball.

Yeah, and he had a chance to be an elite, electrifying starter for many years. Mark Prior also comes to mind as someone who should have been great before injuries ruined his career.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Valadius wrote: Valadius wrote: Kerry Wood was a phenomenal talent, very sad that his career ended up the way it did. He's the closer for the Cleveland Indians. He's making $10.5 million dollars this year to play baseball. Yeah, and he had a chance to be an elite, electrifying starter for many years. Mark Prior also comes to mind as someone who should have been great before injuries ruined his career.

Mark Prior is not being paid money to play baseball this year.

[Gwreck]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Mark Prior is not being paid money to play baseball this year.

Neither am I, but that's not who we were discussing either.

Anyway, as for Kerry Wood, I full well recognize that he had a "chance" to be a superstar/hall-of-fame level player and instead wound up with an injury-plagued career and a move to the bullpen.

At the risk of Tom Glavine-style semantics hair-splitting, I didn't see his case as, you know, a devastating tragedy is all.