Strasburg won’t overtax his arm this season. He will be shut down.
Goodbye, Bull Durham meatheads. Hello, modern medicine.
When Strasburg takes the mound Sunday against the Cardinals, he will pitch one of his final two or three games of a masterful all-star season — his first full one since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2010 to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
What if, for just one day, we took a break from our entrenched debate sides and appreciated the game’s best young right-handed talent directing a 97-mph fastball like a power point presentation?
He has 20 innings or less remaining to buckle hitters’ knees with dancing curveballs and 91-mph change-ups whose bottoms fall out. Before the team takes the proper medical precaution prescribed by the man who performed the surgery, what if we just all give in to the old axiom we have for centuries? That a doctor really does know best.
And then take Strasburg’s two or three remaining starts for what they are – his playoff games, his reward for being as responsible as anyone for putting a once woebegone franchise into commanding position of a pennant race before he has to give the ball to Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann, Ross Detwiler, Edwin Jackson and soon John Lannan so they can bring the Nats home.
For the misguided who remain undeterred, let’s make this clear once and for all: There are case studies. There is evidence to believe that younger pitchers, even those that didn’t undergo surgery, should be extremely cautious before they think they can throw as hard as they want for as long as they can.
Zimmermann, who followed the same protocol a year ago after coming back from Tommy John surgery, until recently was almost the most consistent arm on the staff. That’s right — this season the Nationals benefited from the very same medical advice a year ago. No one made a stink about it because they weren’t sailing toward the NL East pennant.
Tommy John disagrees but he forgets he was 31 when he became the first patient to have his career saved — not 22, like Strasburg was when he had the surgery two summers ago. John hadn’t thrown 600 innings by his 23rd birthday — and that number is key.
Boras last week gave The Post’s Adam Kilgore some very interesting numbers from research the agent’s firm had done.
Compiling a list of 12 pitchers between 1983 and 2003 who had thrown at least 600 innings by 23 years old — Greg Maddux, Dwight Gooden, Fernando Valenzuela, Bret Saberhagen, Steve Avery and Alex Fernandez among them — they found that 11 did not exceed 700 innings following their 30th birthday. They burned out early. The only exception was Maddux, whose calling card was painting corners as opposed to throwing heat, and he underwent a conditioning and strength program at a young age.
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