Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Strasburg to start Sat in Syracuse

SAN FRANCISCO -- Stephen Strasburg will start for Class AAA Saturday again on Saturday night. After that? It's still up in the air, but June 4 at Nationals Park remains a strong possibility.

The Nationals announced today the top pitching prospect will return to the mound Saturday in Syracuse, facing Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He'll pitch on normal rest following last night's five-inning start against Toledo.

MASN will once again televise Strasburg's minor-league start, this time on tape delay following the Nationals' game in San Diego (starting at approximately midnight).

The Nats actualy need a fill-in starter Saturday against the Padres to take Scott Olsen's place, and Mike Rizzo didn't rule out the possibility last week that Strasburg would be given consideration for that slot. The GM, though, said he wanted to evaluate the 21-year-old's performance in last night's Class AAA outing first. Strasburg wound up allowing two runs (one earned) over five innings, his least-effective start of four so far with Syracuse.

Once Strasburg pitches Saturday against the Yankees' top affiliate, he would be well-positioned to make his big-league debut Friday, June 4 against the Reds in Washington. He would need one day of extra rest to line up for that game, the opener of a six-game homestand against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

A June 4 debut also would line up Strasburg to make his second major-league start Thursday, June 10 against the Pirates, giving him two outings on that homestand.

12 comments:

NatsJack in Florida. said...

So everyone please, relax. The plan has been in place for a long time.

See you all next Friday night.

Doc said...

Wad about the palm branches, and the parade into D.C.? The Prez needs to be there, along with the Mayor of D.C.!

Anonymous said...

They can make a new runner in the President's race: The Stras.

Anonymous said...

Mark,

Hate to correct you, but only one of his runs was earned. The first one scored on a passed ball.

Anonymous said...

Can you hear that sound? That's the sound of the Nationals' cash register going ca-ching ca-ching ca-ching. Two starts, two sellouts.

NatsJack in Florida said...

Hey Peric! Mark has 1 earned in parenthesis.

Mark Zuckerman said...

Actually, I fixed it after the anonymous poster pointed out my mistake.

Grandstander said...

This is my first taste of what a bandwagon that's filling up is like. Tried to grab tickets for the 4th, all the cheap seats are gone. Can't even grab the scoreboard seats that come with a free beer. Looks like I'll be watching the game from home!

NatsJack in Florida said...

Hey Grandstander... Try Stub Hub

NatsJack in Florida said...

Sorry about that. Just checked and my $22.00 seats for next Friday are going for $100.00 on Stub Hub.

SilverSpring8 said...

Sure glad I already bought tickets for June 4.

Anonymous said...

SI's Heyman is now reporting Mid June start.

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