MLB betting for the Washington Nationals has never been greater as Monday and Tuesday night showed two dominant reasons for why fans should start betting on this team. On Monday night, with the first overall pick in the 2010 MLB entry draft the Nationals took 17 year old outfield phenom Bryce Harper. Then last night, the Nationals top pitching prospect and 2009 first overall pick Stephen Strasburg made his debut in the big leagues. Strasburg and Harper have both been hyped up by the baseball experts as having the biggest ceilings in professional sports. As a result, Nationals fans betting on the team to dominate the NL East for years to come have plenty to be optimistic about.
In his debut last night against basement dweller the Pittsburgh Pirates Strasburg picked up the win in a five to two victory, logging seven strong innings of four hit ball while striking out a career high 14 batters. Let me repeat, last night June 8th 2010 was Strasburg’s MLB debut and he struck out a career high 14 batters. There are pitchers pitching in the league for the last five years who have yet to fan 14 batters in a single game, and Strasburg did it in his debut. The way Strasburg pitched, one would not have known that he was making his debut as he appeared as confident as the league’s greatest pitchers, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee to name a few. If Strasburg can continue to be as dominant this season as he was in his debut, no one should be surprised, if he wins the 2010 CY Young.
Conversely, Bryce Harper, the Nationals 2010 pick, is the much needed outfield bat the club has not seen since its days in Montreal. Harper has been described by experts as the Lebron James of baseball, and while we have yet to see if Harper has James’s swagger, we do know that he has the talent to live up to the comparison. In an all star game home run derby last year, Harper hit a home run which was over 500 feet. Furthermore, Harper is only 17 and switched schools specifically to play with wooden bats instead of Metal so he would feel the same as a big league hitter.
If both Harper and Strasburg can reach their potentials and avoid injuries, the Nationals will have perhaps the brightest future of all the teams in Major League Baseball. The team has yet to win a World Series, but with Strasburg presently on the team and Harper waiting in the wings, a championship can be seen in the not so distant future.
