Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg is expected to retire from baseball thanks to a series of injuries that derailed his career. An announcement is expected on Sept. 9.
Strasburg, who was a former No. 1 overall pick for the franchise and a World Series MVP, has made just eight starts since the end of the 2019 season.
"When healthy, he was one of the most dominant starting pitchers in the game," longtime teammate Ryan Zimmerman told The Associated Press on Thursday. "You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who worked harder than he did. He deserves to be celebrated because he was a pretty special player. You could argue that he lived up to, or even exceeded, what was expected of a No. 1 pick."
Strasburg had surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome which involved removing a rib and two neck muscles. His recovery was a brutal one, and will continue into his post-playing career. Per the Washington Post, Strasburg "has struggled with mundane tasks, such as lifting his young daughters or opening a door with his right hand because of severe nerve damage."
Nationals: Stephen Strasburg will be remembered as a World Series hero
During the Nationals run to the World Series in 2019, Strasburg went 5-0 with a 1.98 ERA. That included two wins against the vaunted Houston Astros, eliminating one of the best cores in baseball history (despite cheating) at the height of their dominance.
Despite having his career cut short, Strasburg set the Nationals strikeout record, and for the most part lived up to the hype of being a No. 1 overall pick. The hype surrounding Strasburg's eventual call-up was immeasurable.
"To be the type of prospect that he was -- in an age where everyone gets hyped up so much, you almost expect to be let down -- and him being this next phenom, and then to actually do that in his first start, it was fun to be a part of that," Zimmerman continued. "The electricity. The crowd. The excitement. All for a game in the middle of the season. It was like something I'd never really seen before."
And yet, Strasburg delivered. He'll always be a Washington D.C. sports legend. We wish him the best as his recovery from pitching-related injuries continues.
