After a long delay while working out the financial details of his contract, Stephen Strasburg’s retirement became official Saturday night per the Nationals’ official transactions page, with the right-hander and the team releasing statements Sunday morning.
Although this announcement has been a long time coming, the finality of the official release made for an emotional morning yesterday at Nationals Park as former teammates, coaches and front office members reflected on the right-hander’s career.
The roster looks a lot different from the last time Strasburg stepped into the clubhouse back in 2022 when he was trying to revitalize his career while coming back from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. But there are still a handful of familiar faces around.
“You look back at his career and how special of a player he was. He's a huge part of why I decided to come here,” said Patrick Corbin, who was Strasburg’s teammate for four years after signing with the Nats as a free agent ahead of the 2019 season. “Hopefully, he and his family are happy now, and he can move on with life and be with his family, which I know he wants to be. So you just feel for somebody like that who was such a good player for a long time. Just unfortunate with the injuries and some setbacks, but he tried everything to come back and be part of this team. Things just didn't work out.”
Strasburg hasn’t been able to pitch since June 9, 2022, when he made his only major league start that season while giving up seven runs in 4 ⅔ innings against the Marlins. After he was unable to fully overcome thoracic outlet syndrome, he finally admitted last year that a return to the mound wouldn’t be possible.