The Nationals learned Friday that the knee injury suffered by Stephen Strasburg will not require surgery to repair. It's instead been diagnosed as a dislocated knee cap. As painful as that sounds, there's no ligament damage and the Nats' phenom will only require rest and some rehab to get the knee back up to full strength, though he'll still miss Saturday's Arizona Fall League championship game. Considering those that witnessed the injury firsthand saw Strasburg crumple while playing long toss on Thursday and reported hearing a popping sound (often a telltale sign of ligament damage), this is obviously great news for the Nats. I can't even fathom following up a 103-loss season with a serious knee injury to the highest-paid draft pick in baseball history.
The injury ends Strasburg's debut in a professional uniform after 19 innings. In those innings, Strasburg was excellent, if not quite as dominant as some expected. He struck out 23 hitters and walked seven, but also allowed three homers and had a 4.26 ERA. The AFL is known to be a hitter's league, though, and given the layoff between Strasburg's last real game for San Diego State during the College World Series, there's not much for the Nats to be concerned about.
In fact, since he made it through the league in relative good health, despite Thursday's scare, they're probably pretty happy.
