Strasburg gets fourth career opening day assignment

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The worst-kept secret at Nationals camp was unsealed and made public this morning: Stephen Strasburg will start on opening day.

"Yeah, that's correct," manager Dusty Baker said. "I know you guys can count. He's slated to go opening day."

It had been obvious for more than a week that Strasburg would be getting the ball for the April 3 season opener against the Marlins, once it was clear Max Scherzer's throwing schedule lined him up for the season's third game (April 6), but the Nationals held off making it official.

For most teams, the lack of availability of the league's reigning Cy Young Award winner on opening day would be cause for concern. But when the Nats needed to push back Scherzer due to the ring finger injury that delayed his spring training preparation, it wasn't hard to turn instead to Strasburg, who has started opening day three previous times, won a league strikeout title and made two All-Star Games.

"Hey, that's like having two No. 1's," Baker said.

Strasburg has risen to the occasion on opening day before; he owns a 2.25 ERA in his three consecutive starts (2012-14), with 18 strikeouts and only three walks over 20 total innings.

The 28-year-old, as he typically does, downplayed the significance of the assignment.

"Game 1 of 162 and hopefully some change," he said. "So I'll go out there and hopefully get this season started on the right foot."

Whether he'll admit it or not, there is some added meaning to this particular for Strasburg, considering the last time he pitched in a major league game (Sept. 7) he departed in the third inning with what most feared at the time was a significant elbow injury.

Later diagnosed with a strained flexor mass and partially torn pronator tendon, Strasburg did get back on the bullpen mound in October for throwing sessions he hoped would allow him to pitch in the postseason. But when the Nationals were eliminated by the Dodgers in the National League Division Series, that opportunity never came.

After an offseason of rest, Strasburg reported for spring training and has proceeded to prepare as though the injury never occurred, an encouraging sign for a pitcher who has dealt with more than a few ailments over the years.

"My arm's felt great this spring," he said. "Just trying to fine-tune things and get consistency out there, just like everybody else here. I've been recovering really well on a daily basis, and my body's feeling really good. So I think it's just trying to keep doing what I've been doing and see what happens."

Strasburg has made a few tweaks to his mechanics and between-starts program in an attempt to keep him stronger through the entire season. That includes an unconventional move to pitch exclusively out of the stretch this spring instead of the traditional windup when no runners on base.

That raises an odd question: Has the first pitch of the season ever been thrown from the stretch before?

Strasburg will be facing Marlins veteran Edinson Volquez in the opener. Tanner Roark is expected to start the second game against right-hander Dan Straily, with Scherzer and Tom Koehler slated for the series finale at Nationals Park.

Baker admitted any one of his top three starters are worthy of the opening day assignment, but he's glad to have a pitcher experienced in this particular pomp and circumstance to take the ball and perhaps set the tone for a highly anticipated season.

"Everybody would like to have that honor," Baker said. "And this is not new to Stras, not new at all. I'm just glad we've got Stras before Max. But also we've got Tanner, and he could handle it, too.

"And as a manager, you want to win that first one. Get that first one under your belt. I've seen it other places. You're always nervous about that first one. You've seen other places where they've gotten off to a bad start. They lose that first one, and then it kind of snowballs. So you want to get that first one out of the way."