Strasburg closing in on return to Nationals

Stephen Strasburg who underwent Tommy John surgery on September 3rd of 2010 has already begun to face batters in simulated games and has looked well doing so. So well in fact that they are already saying he could make a return to the majors as early as late August or early September.

Washing Nationals manager Davey Johnson recently said of a possible Strasburg return “It’s not going to be me saying to somebody down there, ‘Man, he’s throwing good, he’s ready’ — that ain’t happening. I imagine the latter part of August or early September he’ll be ready, maybe when we expand the roster.” For anyone who may be wondering the rosters expand from 25 to 40 players on September 1st.

While I’m not quite sure if I’d have him pitching in the majors this season I must admit the idea of having him back in the rotation is somewhat exciting. When healthy Strasburg is as electrifying a player as anyone in the game and while the Nationals more than likely wont be playing for anything in September if things go right it will at least bring some excitement to the park and give the fans something to watch.

Plus with Strasburg in the rotation and Peacock likely being called up it could provide a nice look in to whats in store for 2012 when the Nationals will hopefully have a healthy Strasburg, Zimmermann, Lannan, maybe Peacock and whoever they end up filling out the 5th spot in the rotation with.

Now for the sake of the Nationals as well as their fans lets just hope the return of Strasburg goes as smoothly health wise as the return of Jordan Zimmermann.