Strasburgmania

Step aside Hulkamaniacs! - Since early June when pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg first took the mound in a big league uniform and made his Major League debut by living up to the hype and striking out 14 Pirate hitters in 7 innings, while allowing 0 walks, and 2-earned runs on 94 pitches, it was obvious the 22-year old right-hander was going to be a bright star for many years to come. However, since his dominant outing in front of a sold-out crowd at Washington's Nationals Park, Strasburg has only further enhanced his stardom by creating larger than normal gatherings at the ballpark and selling out numerous games both on the road and at home. With less than a handful of starts under his belt, analysts are already comparing the craze Strasburg has created to that of 'Fernandomania' when the city of Los Angeles embraced Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela as soon as he hit the scene in Strasburg like fashion.

Even more surprising, with only his debut outing on his resume, he's already got a burger named after him called, you guessed it, a 'Strasburger'! The menu item which has already became a fan favorite and can be purchased at the restaurant inside the Washington ballpark. *Eat at your own risk!* If having a dish named after you isn't considered rock star status, maybe having opposing stadiums double ticket sales when you're scheduled to start will do the trick. Or perhaps the fact that his jersey and other Strasburg merchandise is being sold at the oppositions ballpark? The starting pitcher out of San Diego Sate University and Southern California native has received early fan fare that hasn't been seen since Mark 'The Bird' Fidrych began manicuring the mound in the mid to late 70's when he was embraced by fans across the league, and most notably in Detroit. His presence causes much attention similar to the man he shares the spotlight with in the nation's capital, President Obama. But if Strasburg can continue to deliver like he has been, don't be surprised if you see any 'Vote Strasburg' campaigns come the next election in 2012.

Prior to his arrival in Washington, the Nationals were almost irrelevant and rarely ever received any air time. However since being called up to the bigs, almost every one of Strasburg's starts have made it on ESPN or another major media outlet. Something I find very fun considering you couldn't pay someone to watch a Nats game a month or two ago. But just a little more than a month into his big league career, Strasburg is already the biggest thing since 'Beatlemania' took the world by storm (alongside Beiber-Fever of coarse). Continuing the love fest that has followed Strasburg since being drafted first overall in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft and signing a record breaking $15.1 Million dollar contract, his extremely rare 1 out of 1 special edition "Superfactor" baseball card out of the 2010 Bowman Chrome set was being auctioned off on eBay for an astounding $50,000 big ones before the seller decided to remove the item. With the card scheduled to hit the online auction once again in the near future, collectors can begin asking themselves, "Hmm a brand new car or a baseball card?"

But back to his work on the field, Strasburg has shown no signs of slowing down since his much anticipated and critically acclaimed debut performance that put him on the map. Through 9 starts, Strasburg owns a record of 5-wins and 2-losses. In both losses combined, Strasburg only allowed 4-earned runs including a 1-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals during Interleague play which was also his first Major League loss. Also worth noting, the young hurler received 0 runs of support in both losing efforts. Now that it's clear both defeats were received due to a poor offense, I think it's safe to say Strasburg would be undefeated on almost every other ball club in the league. If he continues to dominate the opposition, it'll be hard to root against him in terms of the Rookie of the Year Award. But if management decides to shut down their superstar pitcher which is what general manager Mike Rizzo has in mind, it'll be a close call. According to sources, the phenom will be limited to 160-total innings to avoid over working him which sounds a lot similar to the way the Yankees approached the young talent of Joba Chamberlain several years ago when forming the 'Joba Rules'. But if that's what they gotta do to prevent another Mark Prior or Kerry Wood incident, then so be it.

Noteworthy: Strasburg became only the third pitcher in MLB history to record at least 14 strikeouts in his Big League debut. J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros (1971) and Carl Spooner of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1954) the others. ESPN's 'By the Numbers' did a crazy comparison of Strasburg and the All-Time Major League punchout king Nolan Ryan. Ryan started a total of 698 games before having himself a 14 K performance without giving any walks. It took Strasburg only 1. Still think the kid's all hype?