Atlanta Braves starter Spencer Strider made his first appearance in nearly a year on Monday and he absolutely shoved.
Strider, who last pitched on April 4, 2024, before suffering a season-ending elbow injury, tossed 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball in Grapefruit League action in spring training, striking out five straight hitters at one point. He sat down six of the eight batters he faced via the K:
Spencer Strider is BACK
FIVE straight strikeouts in his first #SpringTraining start of the year! pic.twitter.com/kpPtbeKoQv
— MLB (@MLB) March 17, 2025
Electric stuff from Strider. The Braves star looked very sharp and his velocity was fantastic as well, hitting 98 mph on the radar gun. While he likely won’t make his season debut until mid-to-late April, seeing Strider so comfortable and dominant is a great sign for Atlanta. When healthy, Strider has shown that he can be one of the best pitchers in the sport.
The 26-year-old finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting in 2023, posting an MLB-best 20 wins to go along with a 3.86 ERA. He also struck out 281 hitters in 186 innings, which led the Majors, too. The Braves know what he’s capable of and Strider returning to Cy Young form would do wonders for this ball club as they look to get back into contention in the NL East.
While the Braves announced that Chris Sale will start Opening Day against the San Diego Padres on March 27, the lefty made it clear that Strider is still the best arm on this staff.
Via ESPN’s Buster Olney:
“Let’s not forget, he’s still the best pitcher on this team,” Sale said.
Huge praise from the reigning NL Cy Young winner. With a 1-2 punch of Sale and Strider at the top of the rotation, the Braves are in good hands. Reynaldo Lopez and Spencer Schwellenbach will join them, while several others are fighting for the final spot.
Monday was hopefully just a glimpse into what Strider will do in ’25. The best is surely yet to come as he slowly gets back to 100%.
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