Stephen Strasburg close to having a full array of pitches

This much we know: Strasburg will be shut down after he reaches about 160 innings - a number arrived at based on several factors including age, conditioning, innings thrown the previous season (44 1/3) and major-league innings before the injury (68). The Nationals don’t plan to fiddle with that number or space the innings so as to ensure their ace could pitch in a September playoff race.

In that allotted time, Strasburg, like everyone else, seems to expect near-perfection.

“He gives up a hit, he gets mad,” McCatty said this spring, shortly after naming Strasburg the Opening Day starter Thursday at Chicago. “He expects more out of himself than we probably all do.”

But as the Nationals prepare for their first season with Strasburg atop the rotation from the get-go, McCatty’s question from last September only seems to echo louder: “Is this guy normal?” Most expect him not to be.

“I’m pretty comfortable with the expectations people have for me,” Strasburg said with a shrug. “That’s never going to change. I have expectations for myself. As long as I go out there and compete to the best of my ability and do whatever I can to help the team win the ballgame, whatever happens, happens.”

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