Stephen Strasburg Joins Phoenix Desert Dogs

His responses to the media's questions follow.

What are you looking most forward to about tomorrow night?

Being able to pitch in a game with a little bit on the line. It's been a pretty long time since I've been able to do that and to be out here and pitch against some pretty good competition; I'm excited to see what I can do.

What have you been doing for the last month? You went to the instructional league in Florida, what did you do down there?

A lot of it was basically instructional league. You're going to be doing a lot of drills, pitchers felding practice every day, bunt defense, backing up bases, covering bases, and just learning what the organization wants you to know as far as the fundamentals go. It was just getting my arm back in shape and getting ready for the Arizona Fall League.

Did you pitch at all down there?

Yeah I had two outings out there against other instructional teams and just get my arm in shape and get on a mound and face some live batters so I'm a little bit more ready for the Fall League.

What are you hoping to get out of this league or accomplish down here?

Well I've thrown fve professional innings and I want to throw a few more and just learn as much as I can. There's a great coaching staff from a lot of different organizations as well as a lot of top prospects from all the organizations. I really just want to learn from all of them.

Was that the frst time you pitched since the (NCAA) regionals?

Yeah.

How did that feel? Did you need the time off or would you rather have thrown more?

It felt great. I think it was good to have a summer to myself for one last time for awhile. It's great to be back out here. I'm starting to get that fever back.

With that in mind, did you do anything special this summer? Something for kicks, that you might not be able to do again?

A lot of stuff I was doing was stuff that any tourist in San Diego would want to do. Those things are what San Diego has to offer. That's the stuff I wanted to do because I'm not going to have that opportunity too many times in the future.

So you body surfed and went to Sea World?

I stayed away from the beach, actually. It was way too crowded but I did a lot of deep-sea fshing, played a lot of golf and visited with my family.

What kind of changes in your approach might you be making from the college metal bats to the wooden bats?

I'm not really going to change anything. I didn't really try and pitch like you would in college. A lot of college pitchers live on the outer half because if you live on the inner half you're going to get beat by the aluminum bat but I was able to be successful on the inner half in college. My whole goal is to carry over what I was focusing on at school and keep trying to do it here at this level.

Was that a conscious decision to pitch like that, looking ahead to this level?

That's where you make your money is on that inside corner, especially when hitters get comfortable, you get in trouble. You got to keep them off-balance. Who tutored you on that, was it Rusty (Filter) or Tony?

It was a combination of both. Rusty Filter helped me a lot with that, he's one of the big infuences as far as my progression in pitching, especially from my freshman year to my junior year in school. He taught me a lot of great things and I think the things he taught me are going to carry over to this level Their story is that you came in as a freshman, untested, undisciplined a little bit, but that between the freshman and sophomore year, you came back as a completely different person. I wouldn't say I was a different person by any means. I think I defnitely learned how to approach baseball more professionally and obviously having a hall-of-famer as a coach, a guy who's considered to be the ultimate professional. Looking at the way Coach Gwynn went about his business and the way Coach Filter went about his business really opened my eyes to what I needed to do to be successful.

What was it like playing for Tony?

It was absolutely amazing. I was there my freshman year when he got inducted into the Hall of Fame. I got to see all the media and all the fans, all the Padres fans come out to the games to support him. Just to hear him talk about hitting. Being a pitcher, you can't really learn too much but it's good to know what the good hitters are thinking because all good hitters think like Tony Gwynn.

How do you approach 2010? What do you think is in the offng for you? Major League rotation?

No I'm not going to put any expectations on myself. I just want to come out here every day and learn as much as I can. The pro game is a little bit different from college obviously you're pitching every fve days instead of once a week. That's one thing I'm going to focus on is to get my body in shape to endure a long season and I'm just going to go out there and give it everything I've got. And give it everything I have every time I'm out.

Have you talked to any pitchers who have made the adjustment? Have they given you any tips?

Not really. I mean I was in the instructional league here. Obviously I got a lot of words of wisdom from Coach Gwynn. A lot of times he would tell me, "it is the same game; you just have to believe in your abilities." And you got to go out there and do what you do best, not try to be somebody that you're not.

You've been in the clubhouse here with new teammates for a couple of days. Do you feel like you have missed out on anything those guys have been living, that last year or two in most of their careers in your experience?

It's tough to say, I mean, I've just fresh out of college, fresh out of signing. A lot of these guys, it's amazing to see how small the baseball community really is. I think there's like fve SDSU players in the AFL alone and it's great to see some guys that I've played with in the past, and playing on the same team with some guys I've played against in the past. It's pretty neat to kind of see how everybody's paths crossed.

Do you have a target for how many innings you're going to pitch in the Fall League?

I don't have a personal target by any means. I just want to go out there and help this Desert Dogs team and win some ballgames.

Tomorrow, what are you expecting to throw innings-wise or pitch count-wise?

I think right now it would probably be a little bit more than three innings because I threw three innings my last time out last Saturday so I'd imagine it would probably be somewhere around four innings.

How many pitches did you throw on Saturday?

I don't know.

Like 45-50 pitches?

Yeah, it's tough to say. I threw my three innings and then hopped on a plane to San Diego right after that. Was this in Florida?

Yeah, that was in Kissimmee, the Astros complex.

Did you have a chance to spend any of your newfound bonus in the offseason, any splurging you did?

No. No. I'm just focusing on baseball right now. That's something that I'll hopefully be able to take care of my family for the rest of my life and with the family that I end up having. And I'll hopefully be able to take care of them too. So I'm just focusing on baseball right now, trying to improve my game.

How close did it come to you not signing with the Nationals, I mean it came down to the last couple of minutes?

Yeah. I guess it was close to minutes. Could go either way. I wasn't really sure. I was hoping a deal was going to get done, just like it did.

How's the attention been down here? I know you saw the crowds chasing the busses. How's that been?

It's been a little crazy the frst few days. A lot of fans, a lot of autograph seekers. It's great to just be able to kind of bring some sort of excitement to this Fall League because obviously there's a lot of big league players that are in the big leagues right now and a lot of all-stars that have all played in this Arizona Fall League and it's great to be a part of this league and see a pretty good fan turnout.

How do you feel about being the focal point of attention, I mean nobody else down here to this point has had a press conference?

It's great, I mean, it goes with the territory. Obviously being fresh off of the draft and all the expectation and all the hype. It's to be expected. But the bottom line is I've got to take care of business out there on the feld.

Are you getting used to it at all or would you rather it not be around?

It's something that I've had to deal with for the last probably close to a year, you know, off the Olympics. So now I'm learning to accept, embrace, and I just want to go out there and pitch. If it means I have to go out there and do a lot of stuff on the side, and promote a program or an organization, that's great, as long as I can be out there and help the team win a ballgame someday.

It's not like you didn't have a lot of attention out there in San Diego. Friday nights turned out to be Stephen Strasburg Night and there were standing room only crowds. I know they tried to get Tony back out there to sell tickets one day because they were so short of ticket sellers. I know they protected you there a little bit so you should have gotten a taste of it there, right?

Yeah, absolutely. I was really excited. Those were really exciting times there for San Diego State, especially the baseball program, to be selling out every single Friday for the most part of the season. It's awesome.

Tony's basically said you put (San Diego) State on the map. Do you feel that way?

You know, I think I'm just very thankful that I was able to contribute to San Diego State and put it on the map. Obviously for that program, they're trying especially to get to the next stage. They want to go to the College World Series, you know, that's where I was grateful to help the team get back to the regional for the frst time in 18 years.

I know you were in D.C. for a little while. Were you able to get a feel, establish friendships with any of the guys at the major league-level that you're going to be dealing with the next couple of years?

Absolutely. They were all very welcoming and they were really supportive and had a lot of good tips on what to expect. What about your teammates down here?

You've gotten to know a few guys, that if things work out right, you should be together in D.C. in the next year or two? What's your impression of Drew (Storen) and the rest of the guys?

Oh they're all great guys, I mean obviously I've heard a lot about them, with the Baseball America and the perfect game and whatnot, and to fnally get a chance to play with them, it's a tremendous honor. And these are hopefully going to be some of the guys I go up through the organization with and hopefully we're all up there playing together someday.

Did (Derek) Norris catch you yet?

He caught me my frst outing in Instructional League.

You didn't break his thumb, did you?

No.

Just kidding. So it's still Stephen Strasburg Friday here?

I guess so. We'll see what happens.

It's been such awhile, do you fgure velocity will take awhile to get back, or are you pretty much on top of that?

I'm not really worried about velocity, I'm just worried about going out there and executing pitches. Obviously professional hitters can hit a plus-plus fastball over the middle of the plate. So, really at this point, it's all about remembering to locate and go out there and pitch.

At San Diego State, you had a lot of movement on your pitches, I mean, it's not like you throw a straight 98 mile an hour fastball. So you seem to be a little bit ahead of the game on that already, don't ya think?

It's tough to say, I've only thrown fve innings. Like I said, I'm not putting any expectation, I'm just trying to go out here and learn and get as many innings and throw as many pitches I can in the professional stage and just prepare for spring training and hopefully earn a spot somewhere.

Coach Menhart was really positive about your changeup. He said that that was a surprise to him because he knew you had a great fastball but the changeup was really outstanding and he wanted you to mix it in a lot. Is that in the gameplan for you?

Yeah I mean it's always been there. I think in college I was able to dominate hitters with the fastball-slider combination. A changeup has always been something I kind of loved to throw. It's one of my better pitches, I just never really had a need for it in college but defnitely I plan on throwing all my pitches a lot more.

Are you worried at all about results here?

No, not at all. Results are going to happen. A lot of things are out of your control. The only thing you can control is the time before the ball leaves your hand. You can't control anything that happens after it leaves your hand.

Do you pattern yourself after any power pitchers you've seen in the past or respect some of the guys?

I wouldn't say I model my game after anyone. I'm just trying to be myself out there. It's something I've been successful doing for three years now in college and I'm going to try and carry that over. I mean I know that Randy (Johnson) is a left-hander but he had that fastball-slider combination that was pretty hard to hit. Yeah well there are a lot of guys out there with fastball-slider combinations in baseball, especially in wood bat. That's kind of a bread and butter for a right-handed pitcher, especially a guy with plus-velocity. What really separates those pitchers is the ability to locate and also if they have a sinker or changeup or they're able to throw inside.

You mentioned the word 'bat.' You don't do that down here but in Washington you may. What kind of hitter are you?

I have no idea on that. It's been awhile but we took some hacks in instructional league. It's slowly starting to come back, so I think it's going to be exciting. I loved to hit when I was younger but I just never was able to show Coach Gwynn that I could do it at the college level.

So you CAN do it?

We'll have to wait and see.

Are you still in touch with Coach Gwynn?

Yeah, we talk every now and then. Obviously they're really busy right now preparing for next year and they've got a great group of guys so I'm excited to head back there in the offseason, and go out there and work out with them and say hi to everybody.

Is that what you're going to do? You're going to work out at (SD) State?

Yeah, that's probably my plan for the offseason, is to go out there because they've got pro guys that work out there in the fall every year.

I know they have great facilities.

Yeah, they've got great facilities. It's awesome because you kind of get to hang out with your old teammates that are in pro ball now and the guys that played before you so it's a nice little setup to go out there and lift in the morning in the weight room at State. And the hitters go take BP. Gwynn will throw some days and the pitchers can go out there and play catch and hang out.

Getting back to the hitting, how much of an impact did he have, if any, with your hitting?

I know you didn't have to do it there, but did you take any pointers from him, hitting-wise?

No, not personally. I listened to everything he said about hitting. I'll try to apply it but being a pitcher it's a little bit easier said than done. So he never pulled you aside for hitting instruction, per se?

No, not in college.

Do you think you'll be here all season, Stephen, or is there a cutoff?

I can't really tell right now. I haven't thrown yet, but I'm planning to be here the entire year. But if I reach a certain amount of innings that they want me at early, then they'll send me home, but I'm just excited. Hopefully we can get this Desert Dogs team back to a championship here.

Did they tell you what the plan is? Are you coming to major league camp, minor league camp, where are you earmarked for next year? Any notice at all?

No, nothing. They've been great. They really just want to kind of ease me into this process. Obviously it is a big jump, especially for being a top prospect and whatnot. They're just letting me feel things out and get my feet wet and just taking it one step at a time.

You signed a major league deal, didn't you? It was a major league contract you signed?

Yeah.

Did you have a chance to get out in Phoenix area at all and what do you think of it?

Phoenix is nice. Coming from Melbourne (Florida), it was pretty humid out there. You'd come out of the hotel in the morning and your sunglasses would fog up immediately so it's nice to be out here in a little bit nicer weather. And Phoenix isn't too far from San Diego and I kind of like this desert scene with all the little mountains and the sand and cactus. It's a pretty cool atmosphere.

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