The Atlanta Braves Provide an Update on Spencer Strider

The Atlanta Braves are facing an extended absence from one of their best young pitchers

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves have announced the news for starter Spencer Strider. 

And it’s not exactly definitive yet. 

MRI scans done on Saturday diagnosed damage to the UCL and Strider will be heading to Arlington, TX to go see Dr. Kevin Meister, a noted sports medicine surgeon that is one of the preeminent Tommy John surgeons in the country. 

Of recent Braves players to have an UCL repair done by Meister, Huascar Ynoa (9/2022) and Tyler Matzek (10/2022) have returned to play, while prospect Blake Burkhalter (3/2023) and Ian Anderson (4/2023) are expected back this season.

If Strider does, in fact, need Tommy John surgery, it’ll be his second, following his procedure in 2019 while at Clemson University. Atlanta went on to take Strider in the 4th round of the 2020 MLB Draft and he debuted in the final week of the 2021 season. 

Strider was one of the best pitchers in all of Major League Baseball last season, striking out a league-leading 281 batters in his 186.2 innings, good for a league-leading 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Ending the season with a .800 winning percentage and 20 wins on the year, Strider finished as the 4th-place finisher for the National League Cy Young award, won by Blake Snell of the San Diego Padres. 

Strider entered the 2024 season as the reigning betting favorite for the Cy Young by virtue of last season’s dominance and his offseason improvements - he added a curveball to his predominately fastball and slider arsenal. It’s rare that major league starters are able to survive by throwing just two pitches more than 90% of the time, but Strider not only survived, he thrived - his fastball and slider were two of the top three pitches for strikeouts in all of baseball last season, with only Toronto Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman’s splitter preventing Strider from taking the top two spots on the podium. 

But after a good start to open the season at Philadelphia, where he went five innings with two runs on only three hits, walking two and striking out eight, Strider’s second start last night wasn’t as kind. Dealing with what would turn out to be catastrophic damage to the elbow, Strider was tagged for five runs on seven hits in just four innings, with three walks to only four strikeouts. Strider’s fastball quality was the most impacted facet of his game, with his velocity coming in 1.3 mph lower than last week’s start at only 95.9 mph. Strider got only four whiffs (a swing and miss) on his fastball out of 27 swings by Diamondbacks hitters last night, as compared to just over one-fourth of the time last season (28.7%). 

Despite the lowered fastball velocity, the Braves didn’t know that something was physically wrong with Strider. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud remarked to the media after the game that Strider’s fastball had more horizontal movement than usual - “it was running on him a bit” - but was unaware that Strider was potentially injured. Manager Brian Snitker followed d’Arnaud on the podium and told the media that Strider went directly to the training staff after the outing and complained of elbow “discomfort”, prompting an examination at the ballpark last night and an MRI scheduled for today, which ultimately revealed the UCL tear.  

And so, Atlanta’s rotation will have to adjust to replace Strider for the rest of the season. Max Fried, the team’s Opening Day starter the past three seasons, will re-take the #1 role in his final year before reaching free agency. Chris Sale and Charlie Morton will biome the #2 and #3 pitchers, with free agent signee Reynaldo López taking the role of the #4 and 2023 All-Star Bryce Elder, currently in AAA Gwinnett, is the favorite to be promoted into the rotation as the new #5 after Strider is formally moved to the injured list.