Braves manager Walt Weiss said there was “a lot of hope” after the team saw the “old” Spencer Strider at Dodger Stadium in May.
The right-hander pitched six scoreless innings against the Dodgers with one single allowed, eight strikeouts and two walks. Strider’s fastball showed renewed life. His pitches were missing the bats of a lot of good hitters.
After two years of injury setbacks, maybe Strider could rediscover the form that once made him a Cy Young Award contender.
A month later, Strider is back on the injured list and facing the possibility of a third elbow surgery.
Strider left Friday’s game against the Mets in New York because of elbow and shoulder soreness. Weiss said Sunday that Strider had inflammation in his elbow and was to be examined by Dr. Keith Meister, an orthopedic surgeon based in Texas.
Meister performed an internal brace surgical procedure on Strider’s right elbow in 2024. That was the year after the pitcher led the MLB in strikeouts (281) and finished fourth in voting for the National League Cy Young Award.
There have been flashes of the old form since the surgery, such as that day at Dodger Stadium. But, overall, Strider’s results and velocity have been in decline for the past two years.
In 2023, Strider made 32 starts while compiling a 3.86 ERA and NL best 2.85 FIP (results independent of defense and luck on balls in play). He’s made 33 starts since then while compiling a 4.75 ERA and 4.75 FIP.
Per Statcast, Strider’s fastball velocity averaged 97.8 mph from 2021-23. Average velocity since then: 95.6. Strider’s fastball dipped under 90 mph on Friday, prompting Weiss to visit the mound with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and trainer George Poulis.
The short-term effect of Strider’s absence for the Braves is strain on their pitching depth. AJC Braves beat writer Chad Bishop reports that rookie JR Ritchie (3.82 ERA in six games, five starts) is slotted to take Strider’s place in the rotation for now.
Other options to make starts include bullpen arms Reynaldo Lopez and Didier Fuentes and minor-league starter Hurston Waldrep. Spencer Schwellenbach (elbow) and AJ Smith-Shawver (elbow) could return later in the year.
The long-term impact of Strider’s injury for the Braves is uncertainty about his future.
The Braves bought low on Strider in October 2022 with a six-year, $75 million extension. He’d made a very successful move from the bullpen that year. The contract looked like a bargain when Strider had his breakout season in 2023.
Sadly, we may never see that version of Strider again.
Big gap between Hawks, NBA champ Knicks
The Knicks clinched the NBA title with a victory at San Antonio on Saturday. They lost three games during their run to a ring. Two of them came against the Hawks in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The other was against the Spurs in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
The Hawks put up more of a fight against the Knicks than the Sixers, Cavs and Western Conference-champion Spurs. One way to look at that is the relatively young Hawks aren’t far away from competing with the NBA’s elite.
That’s not the way I look at it. The truth is that the Knicks found another level after crafty veteran CJ McCollum stole two games from them, and the Hawks couldn’t come close to matching it.
The Hawks lost three straight games against the Knicks by margins of 16, 29 and 51 points. The last one was the worst playoff loss for the Atlanta-era Hawks. The gap between the teams isn’t that big — the Hawks were deflated by that point — but it’s significant.
The Hawks can make up some of the distance with more experience and development from All-NBA forward Jalen Johnson. It would help if Dyson Daniels develops a respectable jump shot to go along with his elite defense and strong playmaking.
But it’s clear that internal improvement alone won’t be enough for the Hawks to close the gap with the Knicks (or the Celtics, Cavs and Pistons for that matter). They need external reinforcements.
The good thing for the Hawks is that general manager Onsi Saleh has options.
The Hawks are set to pick eighth and 23rd in the draft next week. The Hawks also have trade exceptions that make deals easier to execute. They don’t have much dead weight in the payroll.
The Knicks have six of their top eight players under contract for next season, including all five starters. The Hawks will be among the East teams chasing the defending champs.
Winning two playoff games against the NBA champs is something to build on for the Hawks, but the gap between the teams is still massive.
Three quick thoughts
- Dream forward Angel Reese has added 3-point shooting to her game. That development has been a minus so far. Reese has more than doubled her rate of 3-point attempts, from 0.6 per game during her first two pro seasons to 1.3 this year. She’s made 2 of 17 attempts (11.8%). Reese still is doing her usual good work on the boards and defensively for the Dream, who improved to 9-4 with a victory at Toronto on Sunday.
- The Georgia women’s track and field team won its second consecutive national championship on Saturday in Eugene, Oregon. Bulldogs sprinter Adaejah Hodge didn’t win the NCAA 100-meter title, but she smashed Sha’Carri Richardson’s collegiate record with a time of 10.63 seconds in Thursday’s semifinal. Richardson ran 10.75 seconds for LSU in 2019 before going on to earn two Olympic medals and three world championship titles.
- I watch a lot of Major League Baseball, so it’s jarring when I pay closer attention to the college game. The pitching can be, let’s say, eventful. That’s why I was blown away by Georgia right-hander Joey Volchko’s complete game against Texas in the College World Series on Saturday. Volchko recorded 15 strikeouts against one walk with no earned runs allowed during Georgia’s 7-1 victory.
You can now get my column sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter here.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
