Strasburg admitted Saturday that he's been pitching through numbness in his hand for weeks, Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic reports.
While that sounds worrying, the issue didn't prevent him from looking fairly dominant over five innings in his lone exhibition appearance against the Orioles before the season began. Strasburg received a cortisone injection Friday to help alleviate the problem and said feeling was already beginning to return to his thumb and fingers, but as yet the team has no official timetable for his return to the mound. "I've got to think big picture here," Strasburg said. "It's my career, and I know that in the long run, it's important to try to make as many starts as you can. By putting yourself in a compromising position now, I don't really know if it's necessarily the best way moving forward." The Nats have a history of being very cautious with the right-hander's health, but this latest injury doesn't seem to be one that will keep him on the shelf for too long.