While everyone is talking about Gerrit Cole being a perfect fit for the Yankees, Stephen Strasburg is a name that New York shouldn’t take off their radar.
This year’s free-agent class is filled with starters, some high end, and some low end. But there are two aces, one is Gerrit Cole and the other is Stephen Strasburg. The Yankees are in need of an ace pitcher to man the staff and continue to teach the young pitchers how to handle the big leagues. Here are three reasons why the Yankees need to sign Stephen Strasburg.
Extremely low walk rate
Coming out of college, it was known that Strasburg had tremendous control of his pitches and he has always shown that since being called up. Walks are what annoys coaches and fans the most, you don’t want to give out free passes. Strasburg is one of, if not, the best control pitchers in the game. This year, Strasburg only walked 56 batters in 209 innings. That is good for a BB/9 of 2.4 and a BB% of 6.7 when the MLB average is 8.3. Overall, Strasburg rarely gives out free passes.
Keeps the ball in the park
We all saw what happened this past season with the regular season baseballs, they were flying out at a crazy rate. Tons of pitchers were hurt by this new ball, such as J.A. Happ. But Strasburg was able to keep the ball in the park, for the most part, this year. Over 209 innings, Strasburg only gave up 24 homers, which is good for a HR/9 of 1.0. Who knows what will happen with the ball next year, but to see that Strasburg wasn’t affected by the juiced ball is very encouraging
One of the best postseason pitchers of all time
After watching the 2019 World Series, casual fans were exposed to the greatness of Strasburg in the postseason. He is one of the best Postseason pitchers of all time. In his postseason career, Strasburg is 6-2 with a 1.46 ERA, has struck out 71 batters in 55 innings, and has only walked 8 batters. Also, Strasburg has shown the ability to go deep into those games as well.
The only two games that the Yankees won in the ALCS this year were games that the starter went at least 6 innings. Strasburg went at least six innings in all of his postseasons starts this year. If the Yankees want to win it all next year, they need to go out and sign Stephen Strasburg.