The Better Former First Overall: David Price or Stephen Strasburg

A little foreshadowing or am I just fucking with you? Trick question, I just couldn't find one with both...

In response to TM’s claim that I have no excuse for not posting: after moving into Toronto last week it wasn’t until Sunday that I got internet and had no way of posting anything. Plus I’m a little lazy.

So I guess I missed the memo about NFL Preview posts, luckily the best division in football, the NFC East, has not been vouched for yet so look out for an article previewing the Dallas Cowboys and the 3 other hardly relevant teams in the next few days. For now enjoy this little gem about a sport that is actually in-season.

The last two pitchers taken first overall, David Price (1st overall in 2007) and Stephen Strasburg (1st overall in 2009), have already established themselves as household names in just a few short years. Both have a five-pitch arsenal, can reach triple digits with their fastball, and are the best young pitchers in their respective conferences. But who is better? Comparing players is nothing new, but with nothing really going on in sports these days I figured I would take an early look at two players that will likely be compared often over the next decade.

There is no truly accurate way to compare the two pitchers so far (too small a sample size, NL vs. AL pitching, etc.). Luckily my articles don’t have to meet certain requirements that those at real sports sites enforce. As a result, I will use mostly subjective and irrelevant measures to decide who may, or may not, be the best former 1st overall pick.

Whoever said blogs are the bane of sports journalism obviously hasn’t visited our site…

Let the comparison begin:

Potential

Price: entering the league Price was a two-pitch player (fastball/changeup) but has developed a slider, curveball, and a four seem fastball. Price can reach 100 mph and has shown that he can control his pitches even when reaching triple digits. Price is closer to reaching his full potential at this point but his ceiling might be just a bit lower.

Strasburg: came into the league after three years in college just like Price but unlike Price, Strasburg already had five good pitches including an un-hittable slider that struck out almost everyone he faced in college. Strasburg is not a better pitcher than Price right now but has a slightly higher ceiling than Price.

Advantage: Strasburg

Current MLB Success

Price: pitched in the Rays 2008 playoff run out of the bullpen and was almost un-hittable on his way to a save in Game 7 of the ALCS. Was 10-7 in 2009, his first full year in the majors, and was the All-Star Game starting pitcher for the AL this year and currently sports a 15-5 record with an ERA of 2.85.

Strasburg: made his much anticipated debut earlier this year and has been very good so far. Strasburg leads the majors in K/9 with 12.16 and is 5-3 with a 2.97 ERA. He on par with where Price was last year but Price (who might win the AL Cy Young this year) is clearly the better pitcher now.

Advantage: Price

With limited data to support much more analysis this is where I should probably end the article… fuck it, I’ll find something to talk about.

Better Nickname

Price’s Nickname: Non-existent

Strasburg’s Nickname: Jesus

In any other situation I would go against the man without a nickname. I mean Price has been in the league for two years now and doesn’t have one distinguishing quality or oddity that would lead to a decent nickname? C’mon man. Fucking Berman will take any opportunity to give people nicknames, literally anything will do: Well Dressed Amani Toomer?!? But this is different. There is only one Jesus and his name is not Stephen, his name is Jesus muthafucking Shuttlesworth!

Advantage: Price (for the lesser of two evils)

Hotter Girl

David Price:

Stephen Strasburg:

I kinda meant who has the hotter girlfriend (or in Strasburg’s case, wife) but David Price’s drag attempt showing up in Google Images has kind of changed this section. At only 22 Stasburg is already married and while his wife Rachel Lackey is pretty hot, with a 4-year 15.1 million dollar deal to dangle in front of hot sluts at the bar he is wasting years of hot girls lining up to take turns. I guess it depends if you’re a Barney Stinson type or a bitch like Ted Mosby, but Strasburg definitely made the wrong call. However, Price’s decision to dress like a girl (for whatever reason) and lack of any evidence of him with hot girls (in my extremely brief Google search) means he is disqualified from this part.

Advantage: Strasburg (once again for the lesser of two evils)

Clearly, for reasons relevant and some not even close to relevant, there is no way to distinguish these two players at this point in their careers. Both are extremely talented now and have the potential to be the two best pitchers (if not players) in the major leagues. So, if this site is some how still in operation 5 years from now, I will give my updated report on this interesting rivalry of former first overall selections. But for now this was something to keep me busy and a glorified excuse to show a photo of David Price in women’s clothing.

But since I went into this article attempting to declare the better of the two I will name David Price the winner of this article. Mainly because I am personally a bigger fan of Price and as Bob Ryan said the other day on PTI, 80% of how sports journalists distinguish their opinions is based on if they like the guy or not.

So thanks for wasting 5-10 minutes on this entirely inconclusive article. I promise my NFC East article will be much more conclusive and contain more of those fact thingys that most people care so much about.

KC Roberts

Tags: david price, didn't mean to push TM's article down my bad, entirely inconclutive, I probably should have waited a couple years to write this, Stephen Strasburg