The CBB finishes our countdown today with our number 1 player in the country. After evaluating every player in the country, we decided to select junior RHP Stephen Strasburg from San Diego State as the best player.
Stephen is a native of San Diego who attended West Hills High School in Santee California. He ended up playing three years of varsity baseball under Scott Hopgood. His senior season saw him have a tremendous ERA of 1.68 in 62.1 innings while striking out 74 batters. He ended up finishing the season with a remarkable seven complete games. He broke the school records in ERA and complete games while his strikeouts and innings pitched finished third in school history. He was named to the second-team all-Grossmont League North and team MVP while picking up the 2006 West Hills HS Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He turned down offers to Arizona State, Arizona, UNLV, Stanford, Yale and Harvard to attend San Diego State.
During his freshman campaign, he was used as the closer for the San Diego State Aztecs. He saw action in 25 games with 16 of them being one inning stints. He ended up finishing the season with a 1-3 record with seven saves and an ERA of 2.43 with 47 strikeouts in 37 innings. After the season, he earned second-team all-MWC honors, while picking up honors as a member of the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and a Ping Freshman All-American teams. He played summer ball with the Torrington Twisters of the NECBL. He finished the summer season with a 1-0 record with seven saves and an ERA of 1.29 as he saw action out of the bullpen.
Last season, Strasburg became a national name with his outstanding performances on the mound. He finished the 2008 season with a 8-3 record with four complete games and an ERA of 1.57. He struck out an ridiculous 133 batters
in 97.1 innings. He struck out 23 batters on April 11th against Utah which broke conference and school records for most strikeouts in a game. He was a consensus All-American with every major organization putting him on their respective All-American team.
He spent the summer with the USA Collegiate National Team where he led the team to a 24-0 record. He personally went 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA in five starts. He had 48 strikeouts in only 34 innings pitched. After his starts with the Collegiate National Team, Davey Johnson who was coaching the USA Olympic Team decided to bring Strasburg to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He started in two games with a 1-1 record and a 2.45 ERA in 11 innings of work facing off against some of the best players in the world.
Strasburg showed all summer that he is the best collegiate player in the country after having an outstanding sophomore season.
Driveline Mechanics has an article about some of the issues with Strasburg’s arm action on the mound which is poor according to writer Kyle Boddy. You can check out the article and some video of Strasburg pitching by clicking here.
You can check out all the players in our Top 50 by clicking here.
