Stephen Strasburg's Start From Scratch

At First Professional Appearance: Two Innings, Some Flashes

VIERA, Fla., Oct. 5 -- Stephen Strasburg's first professional baseball appearance will surely go down as one of his most humble career outings; many Little League games draw bigger crowds. Space Coast Stadium was so sparsely attended Monday afternoon, players left the ballpark when taken out of the game by climbing up through the stands and strolling through the main concourse.

Strasburg's performance fit in with the sleepy atmosphere, which is exactly what his overseers in the Florida Instructional League wanted to see. Strasburg, who signed a $15.1 million contract with the Washington Nationals in mid-August, didn't show the quiet crowd of 50 all of his pitches. He threw mostly fastballs, as instructed, and tried to keep the ball down, as instructed, and in two innings of work he did just fine.

Spin Williams, the Nationals' minor league pitching coordinator, pronounced himself "completely happy" with the first overall pick in this year's draft, but no one left the stadium with his mouth agape (particularly a man by the name of Avisall Garcia, 18, a 6-foot-3, 216-pound native of Venezuela who pounded the first career hit off Strasburg to open the second inning).

About five weeks after taking the field with the organization, Strasburg stood on the mound for the first time and gave up one run on three hits in two innings, which technically makes his earned run average 4.50. The rest of the numbers looked better: The Nationals let him throw 25 pitches. Nineteen were strikes, and 22 were fastballs.

All but a couple of balls sailed in low. The fastballs were clocked at 94 to 95 mph, according to a scout from the Milwaukee organization who sat with a radar gun behind the plate.

"I wasn't really going with an attack today," Strasburg said. "I didn't really want to bust out my big approach that I used all through college. You don't want to go out and rush it immediately, and try to punch everybody out. . . . Hopefully next time I will crank it up a bit."

Strasburg wore a red cap, jersey No. 37 and his stirrups exposed. He threw in low-90s temperatures and the area's typical high humidity -- a big difference from the dry warmth he got used to at San Diego State. But unlike his first appearance in Viera in late August, after which Strasburg complained about the heat from the sun and the media, Strasburg seemed bothered by neither Monday.

Though greeted with the same clutch of notebooks and cameras after his stint, Strasburg looked relaxed and in good spirits and happy to chat. He even extended a right arm wrapped in ice at his shoulder and elbow for friendly but awkward handshakes.

"It's something I love to do," Strasburg said. "To not be able to do that for three months or so is a little tough, but I'm happy to finally be out there and get my first two innings of professional baseball."

Strasburg threw just three breaking pitches and didn't throw a single change-up, he said, even though that was what Tigers outfielder Steven Moya, 18, claimed he hit off his fists to knock a broken-bat single to left field, driving in the only run.

"When I went to the plate, I wasn't thinking about that he's a millionaire and how much money he's got," Moya said through an interpreter. "I thought I'm going to go there and face a normal pitcher."

Catcher Derek Norris contended that Strasburg is far from normal. Norris will accompany Strasburg to the Arizona Fall League after Strasburg's only other scheduled start here Saturday. He said Strasburg went out to dust off, not show off, and has plenty more to offer.