Aces up: Strasburg, Scherzer help younger Nationals pitchers

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Stephen Strasburg chatted by his locker early in spring training with Wil Crowe — just a World Series MVP and a non-roster invitee for the Washington Nationals plopping themselves on a pair of folding chairs to talk shop during camp's ample idle time.

Strasburg discussed "little pointers and some cues" about throwing out of the stretch, Crowe said, before an unexpected offer arrived.

"He said to meet him outside the next morning at 8, on the mound," said Crowe, a 2017 second-round draft pick from the University of South Carolina who split 2019 between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Fresno. "It was just me and him; no coaches, no staff. He watched me do my movements and try to take what he does and blend it into what I do."

Fans know what Strasburg and three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer can do when they're on a mound for the Nationals, whose exhibition schedule resumes Thursday against St. Louis after Wednesday's day off. Their bona fides make that obvious. Less so is what that pair, Patrick Corbin and Aníbal Sánchez — the starters who form what Washington manager Dave Martinez jokingly calls the "Four Amigos" — do behind the scenes to teach less-experienced pitchers in the organization.

"It's just a part of being a good teammate and caring about the guy next to you. As you get older, all the players around you seem to get younger and younger. You just kind of have to make yourself available. It's important for the young guys to want to speak up and ask questions, because once they realize that we're very approachable -- I think we all are -- they'll see you can learn from anybody," said Strasburg, who is 31 as he enters the first season under a $245 million, seven-year contract.

"I can learn something from a Wil Crowe, purely because his path to this point could be...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Aces-up-Strasburg-Scherzer-help-younger-15105294.php