Braves Briefing: Spencer Strider is on a ridiculous strikeout pace

The Braves flamethrower is on pace to strike out over three hundred batters this season

The Atlanta Braves saw a masterful pitching performance last night. Unfortunately, it was from Phillies starter Zach Wheeler, who struck out twelve in his eight scoreless innings en route to a 2-1 Phillies win in game three of the series. Atlanta goes out tonight to try and secure a series split behind ace Spencer Strider at 7:10 PM ET on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. 

Spencer Strider is racking up the strikeouts

We all knew Spencer Strider could strike out lots of guys - he broke the two-hundred strikeout plateau last year despite only starting twenty games, having spent the first part of the season working in relief. He finished 2022 with 202 strikeouts in 131.2 innings, good for 13.8 K/9 figure. 

But this season, he's on a whole higher level of dominance. He leads baseball in both strikeouts (97) and strikeouts per nine innings (15.1 K/9), almost three full strikeouts higher than the next closest qualifier (Reds pitcher Hunter Greene, with 12.8 K/9). If you project his current performance out across a full season, with the assumption that he makes all of his scheduled starts, he'd finish the year with an absurd 302 strikeouts in 31 starts, covering a reasonable 178 innings pitched. 

It's an entirely realistic innings number (eight pitcher last year had more than 200 innings pitched) but an absolutely WILD strikeout number - last year's leader in strikeouts, Gerrit Cole, finished with 257 strikeouts in his 200.2 innings. 

You just don't see a starting pitcher strike out THIS many batters per nine innings, usually - last year's leader, Carlos Rodón of the San Francisco Giants (now a Yankee), finished with 11.98 K/9. 

Enjoy the dominance. 

(The modern-day record isn't in any danger of getting broken - Randy Johnson struck out 372 batters in 2001, his third of four consecutive Cy Young seasons, finishing with a total of five. Even HE "only" struck out 13.4 batters per nine innings in that stretch, but throwing 249.2 innings definitely helps set the record.) 

NL East Standings for Sunday, May 28th 

The Braves are still sitting in first place, although that margin is a little narrower thanks to action around the division. Most of the division, minus the Mets, won yesterday, and so Atlanta's lead is only 4.5 games. 

Team	Record	Games Back	Action Today
Braves	31-21	--	vs Phillies
Marlins	27-26	4.5	@ Angels
Mets	27-26	4.5	@ Rockies
Phillies	25-27	6.0	@ Atlanta
Nationals	23-29	8.0	@ Royals

We Wrote It

Braves Today writer Andrew Stefaniak covered yesterday afternoon's game, and noted that the Braves never got the leadoff man on base in the contest, which has been part of their formula to putting up big innings on offense. 

Getting the leadoff man on base leads to crooked numbers on the scoreboard. The Braves didn't get a leadoff man on base once, leading to only one run on the board. It's hard to rally when you only have base runners with one or two out's in the inning. Phillies starter Zack Wheeler made quick work of the Braves, not letting many hitters get into deep counts. The Braves need to start taking pitches and getting pitch counts up when a starter is dominating. They didn't do that, and Wheeler went eight scoreless innings. 

Read the whole piece HERE

Watch Atlanta Braves vs Philadelphia Phillies Highlights

How to Watch Atlanta Braves vs Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, May 28th

The Braves finish the series with NL East rivals Philadelphia tonight at 7:10 PM ET. The game is a national broadcast on ESPN, but the radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.   

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Other Stories from the Philadelphia Series
Takeaways: Braves drop a 2-1 pitchers duel to the Phillies
Takeaways: Atlanta Braves Bullpen Lets One Walk Away
WATCH: Michael Harris drops a bomb into left-center to give Atlanta the lead
Lineup, how to watch the Braves take on Philadelphia in Friday night's game two
WATCH: Austin Riley crushes his second home run of the game
WATCH: Marcell Ozuna continues to tear the cover off the ball
WATCH: Austin Riley destroys a ball into the left-field seats for his 8th home run of the season
Podcast: Atlanta Braves struggled vs LA Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies Predictions
Lineup, how to watch Atlanta's series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies on OutKast Night
Dylan Dodd officially called up to start tonight's game vs Philadelphia
It's OutKast Night at Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta

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