WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Stephen Strasburg has no interest in engaging in the typical spring training chatter between a pitcher and his manager or coaching staff or GM.

How did it go out there today? How’s the arm after that bullpen session? How do you feel?

“I kind of don’t really like people asking me how I’m feeling. Because it doesn’t matter, you know?” the Washington Nationals right-hander explained. “It doesn’t matter in October, so you kind of have to get used to learning to listen to your body, but know when to push, when to scale back, and just try and ride the wave of the season.”

So, naturally, listen to how Nationals skipper Dave Martinez described his regular patter with his guys.

The Nationals rose to contention in 2012, emerging from the depths of the NL East standings to establish themselves as soon-to-be perennial contenders behind a young core highlighted by back-to-back No. 1 overall picks Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.

But heading into that campaign, Washington announced that Strasburg would be placed on an innings limit in what was his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. It was a highly scrutinized move at the time, as the Nationals won 98 games but went into the playoffs without their young phenom.

MLB Network analyst and former major-league pitcher Ron Darling joined D.C. Sports on Thursday to talk about the Strasburg shutdown, which came in at No. 17 in NBC Sports Washington’s Big Twenty series that highlights the 20 biggest sports stories in D.C. over the first 20 years of the decade.

“I remember just thinking to myself, ‘What a shame that Washington’s not going to have him in the postseason,’” Darling said. “But more importantly, I just tried to concentrate on—there is no team in baseball that is gonna make a decision that is gonna hurt the player and hurt their ball club.