The stiffness that led the Nationals to scratch Stephen Strasburg from his start Tuesday night and be put in on the disabled list today may be the least of the problems for the rookie pitcher.
White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper compared the Nationals right-hander to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, who both endured shoulder troubles that plagued their entire careers after arriving to the big leagues with hype similar to Strasburg’s.
“(With Strasburg) The real concern is what I call an upside-down arm action,” Cooper told MLB Network Radio on SIRIUS XM today.
“I am not wishing this guy bad, but for him to be having problems right now when they are really, really watching him what are they going to see when they are trying to get 220 innings from him? He does something with his arm action that is difficult, in my mind, to pitch a whole lot of innings on.”
The Nationals placed Strasburg on the DL retroactive to July 22, but Washington manager Jim Riggleman said he was almost certain Strasburg would start more major-league games this year.
“It reminds me a little bit of Kerry Wood, a little bit of Mark Prior. I hope I’m wrong about this,” said Cooper, whose White Sox were held to one run over seven innings by Strasburg in his third major-league start. “When you throw with the kind of talent and force that he can throw, you can break easier than let’s say a Mark Buehrle type.”
Cooper also said, “It’s very difficult to change arm action, so no I don’t think you can do that.”
Cooper, a New York City native who ended a five-year major league career with the Yankees in 1985, said he was concerned about the stress a major-league schedule would put on Strasburg’s right shoulder. The Nationals were planning to limit Strasburg to 160 innings this season between the major and minor leagues before signs of shoulder worries popped up Tuesday night.
The 2009 No. 1 pick out of San Diego State made his major-league debut on June 8 and is 5-2 with a 2.32 ERA in nine starts covering 54 1/3 innings. He has 75 strikeouts and 15 walks.
“We watch their workloads, we have a great training staff and a great conditioning staff,” Cooper said. “Now, that Strasburg thing would really be concerning me right now. You are talking about a guy coming out of college, probably pitching on Friday nights, and now he has a major-league workload … I guarantee you throwing pitches in the major leagues is a whole lot different than throwing pitches in college. There’s physical and mental stress that goes along with every major-league pitch.”