Stephen Strasburg May Be Used as a Pinch-Hitter Down The Stretch

MLB — 13 September 2012

The Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg’s season is offiially over. In fact, yesterday would’ve been his next start. As promised, he was shut down at around the 160 inning mark (159 1/3 to be exact).

But it has to be eating him up inside that he can’t help his team down the stretch, since he’s not happy at all about not being able to pitch. Apparently, he’s been asking manager Davey Johnson what he can do to still help the team. Johnson came up with a solution: pinch-hitting, says the Washington Times.

In 47 plate appearances, Strasburg has a .277 average with a .333 on-base percentage and a .426 slugging percentage. Of his 13 hits this season, four were doubles, one was a home run.

If that happens, it will officially be the strangest baseball dynamic ever.

“To give him something to think about, I said ‘Keep taking batting practice, I might need your bat,’” Johnson said Wednesday. “‘If I can’t use your arm, I’ll use your bat.’”

But Johnson said Wednesday he was serious about his proposal.

“Yeah I’m serious,” he said. “He’s been pestering (pitching coach Steve McCatty) about what he can do… It’s pretty bad now, but it’s going to get worse because he’s going to be chomping.”