Strasburg Superstar?

Recently in comments somebody noted with regret that Stephen Strasburg would be wasted as a superstar on a bad team; using the (probably not very good) example of Brien Taylor, I noted that it was unlikely that Strasburg would be a superstar, as most “best pitching prospects in history” haven’t been close. This is a little more systematic in making the same point.

Or another way of putting it is that easily the best pitcher taken #1 overall was…Andy Benes. (With position players, on the other hand, you have first ballot HOFers like Griffey, Chipper and Slappy, plus Strawberry (HOF caliber player in career a little too short for Cooperstown) and Baines (very good player forever) and some guys like Burrell and Burroughs who were at least as valuable as Benes. And, yes, Mark Prior would almost certainly would have been better than Benes or Bannister or Belcher had he been healthy — but that’s the point. Pitchers tend to get hurt, and even if injuries don’t stop you from having a career they sap a pitcher’s ability. Strasburg almost certainly won’t be worth what Boras will try to get for him.