Strasburg believes fewer sliders will mean more starts in 2017

Stephen Strasburg desperately wanted to be part of the Nationals' postseason staff, so much so that he kept throwing off the bullpen mound every other day while his teammates faced the Dodgers in the National League Division Series.

The hope, at least in the right-hander's mind, was that his elbow would have been healthy enough and his arm strength built up enough to contribute if the Nationals advanced.

The Nationals, of course, did not, and so Strasburg was left to watch his teammates eliminated in excruciating fashion once again, unable to make a difference himself.

"It was tough," he said Sunday at Winterfest. "I kind of felt helpless. But it's all done with, so I can't dwell on it anymore."

What Strasburg is focused on right now is preventing his elbow from flaring up again in 2017 and beyond after it abruptly cut short what had been a dominant season on the mound.

The key to that, he believes: less usage of the slider that he added to his repertoire in 2016.

Strasburg had been primarily a three-pitch starter throughout his career: fastball, curveball, changeup. He had toyed with a slider a few times previously, but only this season felt comfortable enough with it to regularly use it.

Strasburg wound up using it far more than expected; he threw 399 sliders in 2016, according to FanGraphs, more than his changeup (309) or curveball (301). The pitch was effective for him, but he also admitted it was the pitch that caused the most discomfort in his forearm, a reflection of his inability to repeat the delivery each time with as much precision as he has on his other pitches.

"I had a new pitch, and I probably abused it," he said. "So I need to go back to what I've thrown much longer. Not necessarily stop throwing it, but don't let it take the place of other pitches that my body's been accustomed to over the years."

The issue came to a head in August, when Strasburg - who had been 15-1 with a 2.63 ERA over his first 20 starts - began to struggle. He surrendered 19 runs and 24 hits over his next 11 2/3 innings, then was placed on the disabled list with elbow soreness.

Strasburg returned two weeks later and looked sharp early in a start against the Braves, until in the top of the third he winced after throwing a pitch and had to be pulled from the game. Fears of a major injury were eased when he was diagnosed with a strained flexor mass and partially torn pronator tendon. The prescription was simply rest and rehab, no surgery, and Strasburg said he has been able to treat this offseason just like any normal one.

"I'm assuming it's healed," he said. "That's what the doctors told me. It's just a matter of time. I've been full-go with my training. They said go treat it like a normal offseason right now. I'm just not at the point where I've started throwing."

That will happen in a couple of weeks, with Strasburg beginning his normal throwing program in early January. He'll report for spring training in mid-February having already thrown off a mound, and he'll proceed as he always has.

Strasburg does plan to tweak some of his between-starts regimen in an attempt to save more up for the second half of the season. But the biggest change he intends to make is to significantly reduce the usage of his slider, believing that will reduce the strain on his elbow and ultimately keep him healthier over the full year.

"I just know that based on my symptoms, that pitch became the one pitch that didn't really feel good throwing it," he said. "With that said, just looking back on the numbers, a lot of it was overuse. My arm just wasn't accustomed to throwing that pitch that many times. I was throwing it significantly more, even when I didn't have it."

Secure in the knowledge he is signed with the Nationals for seven more years after his surprise contract extension in May, Strasburg now is determined to do his part to help his club get past the first round of the postseason for the first time.

He hasn't been available to pitch for the Nationals in two of their three NLDS appearances so far - the team's infamous precautionary shutdown in 2012, this injury in 2016 - and he hopes not to have to be on the outside looking in again.

"I don't want to miss any more time," he said. "I'm not saying that's not going to happen. Sometimes you're going to get hurt, and there's nothing you can do about it. But I'm going to continue to try to figure out this puzzle and hopefully this next year I'll have a better grasp on what I need to do to stay healthy."