As the Nationals spring training gets under way in Viera, Florida, many Washington fans are wondering about the health of franchise ace Stephen Strasburg, who's looking to start his first full season in the majors in 2012. According to Mark Zuckerman of Nats Insider, Strasburg is completely healthy and feels back to normal. He even told Zuckerman that it feels as if the Tommy John surgery "almost never happened."
Via Mark Zuckerman of Nats Insider:
"When I go out there and throw, it feels so much more natural now than it did coming off the surgery," he said today upon reporting for spring training. "My mind's a lot clearer. I just go out there and throw the baseball. I don't think as much about mechanics or anything. I don't feel myself holding back a little bit. I just let it go."
While Strasburg is completely healthy, the Nats will still watch his total innings and pitch count very closely - something the ace says he'll have to learn to deal with. He plans to take a cue from Jordan Zimmermann, who was limited himself in return from TJ surgery.
"I think what I learned from Jordan and what I'm going to try to incorporate is ... I don't want to go out there and say, 'Oh, I know they're going to take me out in this inning because I've thrown this many innings this year,'" he said. "I'm going to go out until they take the ball out of my hands."
We'll have much more on Spring Training here at SB Nation DC in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out SB Nation's Nationals blog, Federal Baseball, for more news and notes. And don't forget to visit Baseball Nation, the MLB hub of SB Nation for information from around the league.