Knudson: Where Have You Gone, Stephen Strasburg?
FacebookBy Mark Knudson, The Mtn. Insider
March 14, 2011
Everyone knows Tony Gwynn as a Hall of Fame baseball player. The man called “Mr. Padre” is one of the greatest hitters that’s ever lived. Yet back in his college days, Gwynn was a pretty fair point guard, too, and I’m sure that right about now, as the career assist leader at SDSU, he’s a huge fan of what Steve Fisher and his Aztecs are doing on the basketball court.
The success of the hoops team should help keep Gwynn’s mind off what his Aztecs are doing on the baseball field, because it’s not real pretty right now. After losing three of four to #15 Arkansas over the weekend to drop their record to 3-13, Gwynn and his team are searching for answers.
To be fair, SDSU has not been playing (with apologies to Gordon Gee) the Sisters of the Poor. Along with Arkansas, they’ve already lost games to #3 Oklahoma, #4 Vanderbilt, #5 UCLA and #22 UConn. On the flip side, however, it has to be pointed out that they have played (and lost) just a single road game - to nearby Cal State Northridge. SDSU is now 3-12 at home.
How does this happen to what should be a baseball powerhouse?
Well, when your team ERA is over 6.00 and your team batting average is .235, that’s a recipe for, well, 3-13.
It seems like a decade ago now when Strasburg Mania was dominating the Mesa and San Diego State was a force in Mountain West baseball, reaching the NCAA tournament. It was actually just two seasons ago, in 2009, but Stephen Strasburg is gone to the pros now and he seems to have taken that postseason stuff with him.
The past two seasons have been a struggle. During this past offseason, Gwynn took on his toughest foe to date when he battled cancer of a salivary gland and had both his lymph nodes removed. He wasn’t around his team much and the coach’s health concerns have undoubtedly been a factor in his team’s bad start.
A factor, yes, but the biggest reason? Probably not.
If you judge by the results on the field, then you’d have to conclude that recruiting has not gone well enough to keep San Diego State near the top of the Conference nor in the NCAA hunt where they belong. The next Stephen Strasburg may be on the roster, but if he is, he’s yet to show himself.
San Diego State is fielding a very young team – again – this spring. 16 new freshman faces dot the roster plus three junior college transfers. Only outfielder Brandon Meredith is a known quantity and force in the lineup and only Corey Black has stood out on the mound. What’s most troubling for Aztec fans is that being young and rebuilding seems to be the norm, not the exception. Every February, it seems like Gwynn talks about his young team needing to gain some experience.
Yet a successful program cannot be young every year. At some point, SDSU needs some of these young players that Gwynn has brought in to grow into productive veterans. That’s not happening with enough regularity to make SDSU a force on the diamond.
Will stars emerge from the current group? Could very well happen. Remember, Strasburg was not a highly recruited player out of high school but rather a late bloomer who blossomed while already in the SDSU program. The irony? The thought was that when Gwynn took the head job at his alma mater, landing the top flight recruits would be his strongest suit. That’s not been the case.
Instead, he’s taken a few marginal prospects and turned them into big time players. He won’t do it, but Gwynn could justifiably point to Strasburg as an example of a superstar he developed rather than someone he simply recruited. Gwynn’s tutelage and the way he handled his young impressionable pitcher for those three years are the biggest reasons Strasburg was the first pick in the major league draft and is now a millionaire.
It’s not a reach to say that Tony Gwynn made Stephen Strasburg.
Now the question is, assuming he’s healthy for the long run, can Tony Gwynn work that same kind of magic on anyone he’s recruited recently? What are the hopes for this team and this program moving forward?
Aztec Nation is turning their lonely eyes to Mr. Padre to see exactly how he’s going to get his program turned around.
ALL TIMES MOUNTAIN
