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Every major league team dreams of having a pitcher who can do the following: throw a fastball at 98 mph or faster, throw a slider in the 90’s, and throw a curveball in the 80’s. Stephen Strasburg can do all of those things and has never pitched in a professional game in his life. It is a product of the state of San Diego, currently managed by Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

Strasburg was selected by the Washington Nationals as the # 1 pick in the 2009 amateur draft. He may not have an agent before signing a contract with a major league team, but his “advisor” is super baseball agent Scott Boras. the same man who has represented players negotiating the biggest contracts in the game, like Alex Rodríguez and Daisuke Matsuzaka. It has already been reported that Strasburg could demand a major league contract worth $ 50 million, roughly four times the previous record amount for a draft pick. That might seem justified given Strasburg’s material, but a quick look at other selected pitchers early in the first round shows they are an unpredictable breed.

Ben McDonald was selected # 1 overall by the Baltimore Orioles in 1989. By this time he had already led the United States Olympic baseball team to a gold medal in 1988. McDonald was accelerated to the major leagues, where he started with an impressive shutout complete in his first major league game. Despite the good start, things never went well for McDonald, who was a mediocre pitcher before experiencing career-ending shoulder problems in 1997.

Todd Van Poppel was the Oakland Athletics’ fourteenth overall pick in the 1990 amateur draft. He had just finished high school and the Atlanta Braves would have picked him # 1 if he hadn’t told the Braves he wouldn’t sign. with them. The Braves, instead, used their pick on Chipper Jones. Van Poppel signed a major league contract, which earned him more money but also gave the Athletics fewer options to develop him in the minor leagues. He was in the majors after making just 32 minor league starts, and his straight fastball was never able to dominate major league hitters. Van Poppel never won more than 7 games in a season and finished with a career record of 40-52.

Brien Taylor was another pitching phenomenon who was selected as the No. 1 pick in 1991 by the New York Yankees. Like Strasburg and Van Poppel, Taylor was being mentored by Scott Boras. The $ 1.55 million contract he signed with the Yankees was a record for a draft pick at the time. Taylor was featured on the cover of Baseball America and his 100 mph fastball was the talk of the baseball world. He was good in his first season in the minors, but he showed he could use a little refinement. Then, in 1993, his shoulder was seriously injured in a fist fight in a trailer park. He would never fully recover from the injury. Taylor is now a bricklayer and lives with his parents on a street named after him during that brief period, nearly 20 years ago, when it was the next big thing in baseball.

Strasburg has some things going for him that these other pitching phenomena never did. He has a college education, along with the experience of pitching against Division 1 college hitters. Unlike McDonald, who also went to college, Strasburg didn’t have to work too hard in an effort to win a championship. Tony Gwynn was very careful with Strasburg and limited the number of innings he threw. If Strasburg has early success in the minor leagues, he will have Gwynn to thank. Strasburg will be under the watchful eye of the Nationals’ best coaches and coaches as he progresses through the minors. He is the type of player capable of turning a dismal franchise upside down and turning them into contenders. That won’t happen overnight, and from the looks of it, the Nationals will have more help building their franchise when they get the # 1 overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft, as they have the worst record in baseball at this time. moment and they don’t. Looks like he’s looking to get out of the basement soon. Perhaps Strasburg will soon pitch Bryce Harper, the 16-year-old catcher who hits a 500-foot home run and who will be draft-eligible next year.