Stephen Strasburg

Rookie phenomenon baseball pitcher Stephen Strasburg has been one the hottest things to hit Major League Baseball this hot summer. At the time of this writing, Strasburg is currently 21 years old and electrified baseball fans with his debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates with 14 strike outs. The Washington Nationals have given their fans and baseball fans across the country something to really get excited about as this young man has shown that he is a true talent and indeed deserves to be a pitcher on the big league level.

After a college career at San Diego State, Strasburg was picked with the number one overall pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. He ended up signing a rookie record $15.1 million contract with the Washington Nationals to get started on his professional baseball career. This young man has been under tremendous scrutiny and many considered him to be one the most hyped players that baseball has ever seen. That's a lot to live up to but it's would seem safe to say that Strasburg if off to a great start so far in his brief rookie debut. It looks like he won't be a part of the National League roster for the All-Star game but that would seem reasonable as he's only won two games so far with little run support from his teammates and has only been called up from the minor leagues for a month or so.

Well in college Stephen Strasburg's fastball was said to reach 103 miles per hour. That's faster than most major league pitchers. He also set a record when he struck out 23 of 27 batters in one game. See the ESPN feature below to learn about why he was so hyped and considered to be such an unbelievable pitching prospect.