Who is Stephen Strasburg? This name is suddenly making waves in the baseball world. He is the top pick in the June draft and this is his first foray into Major League Baseball. He will be playing for the Washington Nationals. Being the top draft, Stephen Strasburg is given a great contract with the Nationals. With his agent Scott Boras, Strasburg signed on a $15.1 million deal, breaking the record of the highest amount paid to a draft pick which is $10.5 million to Mark Prior by Chicago Cubs in 2001. The $15.1 million is broken as $7.5 signing bonus, $2 million annual salaries for 2010, $2.5 million in 2011, $ 3 million in 2012, and $400,000 prorated share of major league salary for the present season. I must say he signed the deal just in the nick of time!

What does Stephen Strasburg have that Washington Nationals chose him as the No.1 overall draft pick? Although he has never played major league baseball, Strasburg has quite a start in the game. He is superb when it comes to pitching. His right-handed capability has earned him the Golden Spikes Award being the top player when he was still in college. He showed the way for the NCAA Division I pitchers with his 1.32 earned-runs and 195 strikeouts in 109 innings. Due to his talent, he was the only college player who was chosen to play for the US Baseball Team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Stephen Strasburg is very glad to be picked by the Nationals. This is his statement to ESPN, “It feels awesome. I got a little nervous there for a while that it might not happen, but I feel very blessed. I’m not sure of the plan right now. They said they’d bring me up for the media. They said to take my time to get ready.”

We sure are looking forward to seeing Strasburg in action soon!