7 years agoIn a season that finally saw Stephen Strasburg place himself among the best pitchers in baseball, it was his numbers after coming off the DL midseason that were truly eye-popping. In 53 2/3 innings, the 29-year-old hurler struck out 63 batters, walked ten and kept a 0.84 ERA while keeping hitters to a stingy .171/.221/.219 slash line. He was even filthier in the post-season, giving up just two runs in 14 innings. He had 20 quality starts all season, striking out 204 and walking 47, en route to a 2.52 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. Most encouraging was the fact that his four-seam fastball lost very little average velocity from the beginning of the season (96.21 mph) to the end (95.63). Like many of the Nationals, Strasburg is only as good as he is healthy. And his annual trip to the DL likely conjured up sickly familiar feelings among his owners and Nats fans. But the elbow impingement didn’t affect him after his return, and it was a deviation from his routine that Strasburg blames for his injury. He’s now talked about avoiding future All-Star games in order to disrupt his routines. One thing he'll definitely keep for the upcoming season? Pitching from the stretch, which he did exclusively in 2017. Draft him with confidence and early in 2018. The Strasburg that we’ve been hearing about for nearly a decade has arrived.--Mario Hernandez - RotoBaller