Ready for the next Generation

Tonight the baseball world will be watching as the Washington Nationals take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. It's the start of a new era. Tonight, Stephen Strasburg, the #1 overall pick in last year's draft, makes his major league debut tonight. Strasburg was called, even before he was drafted, the best pitching prospect of all time. Most would say that it could be a fluke and prospects are just that, prospects (see Mark Prior and Todd Van Poppel). However, Strasburg has proved that otherwise. After making just 11 starts in the minors, and zipping through AA and AAA, Strasburg was 7-2 with a eye-popping 1.30 ERA in 55.1 innings with 65 strikeouts. Pure dominance. The world will be watching tonight to see how the game's best prospect debuts. Tonight we will see if Stephen Strasburg can continue to live up to the hype. Stay tuned.

My prediction for Strasburg's line:
6 IP, 0 runs, 4 hits, 8 SO and 2 BB.

Strasburg will not be the only future star debuting tonight. The Florida Marlins called up top prospect OF Mike Stanton and he will be starting tonight against the Philadelphia Phillies. Stanton, who was one of the minors' best hitters, was always ranked in the top 5 prospects and was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2007 draft. The amazing part of all this: he hasn't even played in AAA. After crushing AA with a .311 average, 21 home runs (!) and 52 RBI, the Marlins felt Stanton was ready to come up. Stanton has always been a power hitter, hitting 39 homers in '08 and 28 in '09 with 21 already this year! We will see the new era of the Florida Marlins. Stanton might just be the best prospect out of the Marlins system since Miguel Cabrera. While most of the attention will be on Strasburg tonight, make sure to also keep an eye on Mike Stanton. This will be a fun night.

Stanton's line tonight:
2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB.

Enjoy the games!
(both will be aired on MLB Network for live look-ins)