Here we are just one day away from the beginning of college football, and I am going to write about baseball. Not baseball the game, but a baseball player, and not just another baseball player, but the guy who was destined to become the franchise player for the Washington Nationals   Stephen Strasburg.

I watched Strasburg during a game earlier in the year, when he was doing his short stint in the minors. It had been quite a while since a pitcher amazed me like Strasburg did. There is a reason he was the very first selection in the 2009 baseball draft. The kid consistently throws a 100 mph fastball. He has a breaking ball like you wouldn't believe, and he has made hitters look foolish when he goes from bringing the heat to slipping in a changeup.

After a pitch last week to Philadelphia's Domonic Brown, however, it was apparent that something was wrong. The major league's $15 million dollar man grabbed his arm and was in obvious pain. Originally, the ball club said Strasburg had suffered a strained flexor tendon in his forearm, but last Sunday, a more extensive MRI showed that he had a torn ligament in his elbow.

The fix? Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction surgery where doctors replace the ligament with a tendon from somewhere else in the body such as the forearm, knee, hamstring or foot. The procedure is better known as Tommy John surgery, named after the pitcher who was the first to have the surgery performed on him back in 1974. The good news is that it only takes about an hour for doctors to do the surgery. The bad news is, rehabilitation takes anywhere from a year to 18 months.

Strasburg didn't even realize he was seriously hurt. His arm felt fine. He was considering pitching again. Now, it looks like the rookie phenom won't step on the mound until sometime in the spring of 2012.

After hearing the news, I stopped to think how I would respond to such a setback. Here is a guy who had everybody¹s attention in major league baseball. He had struck out 14 batters in his major league debut. People at every stadium in every city were anxious to come out and watch this kid pitch. Now, he will be watching for the next 18 months and hoping to fully recover.

I have to hand it to Strasburg though. In an interview he said, "Bottom line, this is a game. I'm very blessed to play this game for a living. It's a minor setback, but in the grand scheme of things it¹s just a blip on the radar screen." Great words of wisdom coming from a 22-year-old kid, don't you think?

When this surgery was first perfomed by Dr. Frank Jobe, there was only a 1 in 100 chance that the arm would recover 100 percent. Today, there is a 90-percent likelihood that a patient will fully recover. Tommy John himself enjoyed a major league career that lasted until he was 46 years old.

With Strasburg's obvious positive outlook on the situation, one can only assume that he will return as even a better pitcher than he was this year. And to those batters who will have to face Strasburg in 2012, keep in mind that often times, following this surgery and rehab, a pitcher will be able to throw harder than he did before.

Rumor has it that major league baseball will spend the next 18 months developing a reinforced catchers mitt. Our thoughts and prayers are with Stephen Strasburg and with any hitter that will have to face him when he returns in 2012. Hit 'em straight.

Reach Dale Jones at djones@gulfcoastnewspapers.com