Given the absolute glut of media attention regarding Stephen Strasburg’s remarkable debut for the ‘Nats last night, I’m not sure I have anything meaningful to say that hasn’t already been said. But let me try.

The moment that got me was when he struck out Delwyn Young in the 2nd. (The link has all of the K’s from last night; the Young whiff is at about the 0:49 mark of the video).  Strasburg has been rightfully heralded as the next Walter Johnson because of the seeming ease at which he is able to throw the ball 100 mph (and maybe once 103 — see picture). But starting with the Young strikeout, it occurred to me that unlike Johnson (or Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson or Pedro or young Roger Clemens), his fastball might actually be his setup pitch. His strikeout pitch could be that absolutely devastating curveball. Huge movement combined with high (82-84 mph) speed. Because of the 100 mph fastball, it’s enough of an off-speed pitch to screw up the hitter’s timing. But he’s throwing it harder than a John Tudor heater.  My brother-in-law pointed out that his one mistake (the homer) was on a circle-change that he threw at 91mph, which is the speed major league hitters are used to getting fastballs.

When he struck out Young, my initial thought was to Kerry Wood’s last two strikeouts in his 20-k gem (fast forward to the last 10 seconds of the clip). Wood throws a couple of curveballs that move so far right to left, you swear he must be pitching a wiffleball. Strasburg’s curveball, beginning with the Young strikeout, appeared to regularly have more movement than that, especially vertically.

And so the obvious comparison becomes Dwight Gooden circa 1985. Like Gooden, Strasburg has an overpowering fastball. But also like Gooden, it’s the curveball that seems so deadly. But Gooden’s play was to throw the curveball for called strike threes, completely freezing the hitters as he dropped it into the zone. Strasburg threw his curve for strikes early in counts last night, but never threw it anywhere near the plate during 2-strike counts. They swung and missed. Badly.

And that was really what last night was all about. Not 14 k’s; not a 21-year old who looks to be the next great strikeout pitcher. But a new pitcher who is so dominant that he’s making hitters look silly at the plate. Even when Randy Johnson or Nolan Ryan or Ron Guidry or Roger Clemens was at their peak, it was only occasionally that they were so dominating as to make major league hitters look like high school players. That’s what so refreshing about this. There’s a guy in the majors right now who is a threat to strike out 13 or 15 batters every time he takes the mound. And yes, it’s only one start. And yes, it was the Pirates. But is there any reason to believe Strasburg isn’t just going to get better, and more comfortable, and smarter on the mound? I mean, would you bet against him having a 17+ strikeout game sometime in the next year? I wouldn’t.

Whenever a flamethrower like Strasburg gets going, you just know what’s going to happen.  After he struck out Young again in the 7th on three pitches for the 2nd out and his 6th consecutive K, I don’t think there was a person alive who thought Andy LaRoche was making contact during his at-bat. In fact, I kinda figured Strasburg would mow him down on 3 pitches.  And of course that’s what happened.

And that’s exciting for baseball. Because of all the great feats a baseball player can accomplish, the only guaranteed way to create must-see TV during the regular season is to have this kind of domination on the mound. Like you aren’t going to try to watch his next start?