Stephen Strasburg needs Tommy John surgery.

Rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg will “probably” miss at least one year and perhaps the entire 2011 baseball season after undergoing Tommy John surgery to replace the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, General Manager Mike Rizzo said. After one of the most electrifying beginnings to a baseball career in memory and after validating the massive hype that trumpeted his arrival, Strasburg ends his season with an uncertain future. The Washington Nationals will hold their breath, optimistic Strasburg will conform with the odds and return to full health by 2012.

“It’s a tough day for him and for all of us, for everyone who’s a Nats fan,” Team President Stan Kasten said. “But we saw Jordan [Zimmermann] come back last night. A year from today, Stephen will be joining him.”

Strasburg will receive a second opinion from Dr. Lewis Yocum, the surgeon who performed Tommy John surgery on Jordan Zimmermann. But the Nationals are operating under the assumption Strasburg will need Tommy John surgery to repair a “significant” tear in his UCL, Rizzo said.

Strasburg knew about this yesterday, but didn’t want to rain on Bryce Harper’s parade.

These stories about Strasburg’s mechanics seem to be spot on. That’s two top draft picks for the Nationals who suffered the same injury. Maybe they need a new process for deciding which pitchers to draft. I also suspect they’ll take a lot of flack for not shutting him down completely after he hurt his shoulder.

I suspect the upside for Strasburg in Francisco Liriano. It took him three years to get back to being one of the best pitchers in the league. At least we got to enjoy Stephen’s power and control briefly.

This is all a bit strange for me. I spent the day at the funeral for the wife of my dad’s best friend. His friend was once a pitching prospect for the Cardinals, in the late 1930s, but blew out his arm. They might have fixed it today.