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Even Without a Gold Medal, Strasburg Could Be No. 1
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There were enough questions about Strasburg coming out of West Hills High School near San Diego -- he was a pudgy kid who threw just 88-90 mph -- that Filter had to sell the team's head coach, Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn, on giving him a scholarship.
"It wasn't exactly skepticism," Filter said of his conversations with Gwynn regarding Strasburg. "It was more like: 'Are you sure this is the guy you want? Are we sure we want to go that high on the scholarship amount?' "
Strasburg's delivery was mechanically sound, but needed refinement. His body was, as Filter puts it, "soft" -- as was his mental game. The Aztecs immediately put him on a conditioning program, a throwing program and a yoga program.
The results were immediate and stunning. Strasburg began dropping pounds and gaining velocity. By the time he was a sophomore, his fastball was consistently clocked at 97-99 mph with occasional touches of 100 and 101. He also features a wicked slider that Filter calls his out pitch, and a change-up that he might throw just a handful of times per game.
"I always had the ability in me," Strasburg said, "and I think I was just able to harness it when I got to State because of all the work they had me doing every day. It was a natural progression. Some of it was [because of] maybe losing that baby fat. Some of it was just maturing."
On April 11 against the University of Utah, Strasburg took the mound and walked off it nine innings later having set San Diego State and Mountain West Conference records with 23 strikeouts.
"I've never seen anything like it," Filter said. "The next game, I think he struck out 13 or 14 and we were like, 'What's wrong with you?' "
Strasburg has gunned his motor hard this year, his odometer reading already up to about 138 innings when you take into account his college season, his stint this summer with the college-level U.S. national team and the exhibition games he has already thrown as part of the pre-Olympics schedule. Last year, he said, his total was about 47, and the most he had ever thrown before this year was 60 as a high schooler.
But the arm, Strasburg said, feels fine. It feels great. And the heat? It's there. It's always there. And once the United States is done with him, and once San Diego State is done with him, it will be coming to the major leagues, to a stadium near you -- maybe, Nationals fans, very, very near you.
