Titling this Great Expectations would have been a little mean-spirited and inaccurate or incomplete. I was never Stephen Strasburg’s biggest fans, but I want to do the cat justice now that he won’t strike out any Cub hitters again.

If a player announces his retirement before anyone realizes that he hasn’t already hung up his spikes, will it make a noise in the forest?

Strasburg pitched a total of 31.1 innings since signing a 7-year, $245 million contract after he and the Nationals won the 2019 World Series. So it’s not as if he’s been very active lately. He last pitched a whopping 4.2 innings in 2022. A couple different national writers questioned his need for announcing his retirement. He may no longer be a big deal outside of DMV, but his importance to the Nats community is without compare and I’m sure National fans have been waiting for this day. For the most part, his injuries and the emergence of several new flame-throwers have relegated his career numbers to the back of the Uber.

When was the last time you considered him among the best of the past 15 years (or Tim Lincecum)?

I’ve linked to his Baseball Reference page so you can peruse his career and individual season numbers-focusing on what you find salient. I’ll try and provide some content. In several stories announcing his retirement, they stated that he had a 13-year career. I’ll add that he played in parts of 13 seasons. Unfortunately, injuries and injury-prevention played a big part of his career.

Of the 13 seasons, me exceeded the 150 innings mark 5 times and fewer than 70 innings, 5 times. When available, he was excellent, but he wasn’t available that often.

Before he was selected with the #1 overall pick in the 2009 draft by Washington, he was hyped as much as any of the Kardashians. While I’m not given to hype, I did sneak over to San Diego State University in April of 2009-hoping to see what the hype was about. Unfortunately, I missed his start by a day and arrived at the ballpark during the Anthem and didn’t get a chance to speak to anyone about him.

My only professional experience with him came later in the year. I was in Arizona for my 4th AFL and he was pitching for the Phoenix Desert Dogs. I wasn’t doing a story on him and I hadn’t prepared any questions for a potential interview which was a good thing. For the most part, he was protected from media. However, once he realized I wasn’t chasing him, he relaxed a little and we spoke a couple times (informally). I couldn’t tell if he was happy that the media was kept at arm’s length or if he was embarrassed.

Long before the Nationals mishandled his innings and kept the Nats from playing in the postseason, they pulled a fast on with the AFL. The AFL misled the fans in the Valley by advertising that he was going to start in the Rising Stars Game. He didn’t even suit up for the game. It’s almost as if Manfred was “leading” the AFL instead of Steve Cobb. Bait & Switch 101.

I did get to watch him pitch during that ’09 AFL season and a few times during his ML career. I won’t determine if his career measured up to the hype, but when it mattered the most-the 2019 postseason, he stepped up big time-winning the WS MVP and the title.

I guess he’s the perfect example of “out of sight, out of mind.” It just seems odd that he’s not mentioned when discussing the greats of this era. Other than this announcement, I haven’t heard much from him in the past few years. I’m wondering if he likes it that way.

Congrats on a nice career!

Stephen Strasburg Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com