Strider shifts focus from rehab to 'competitive state'

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- What was it like for Spencer Strider to spend this winter rehabbing at a dormant Truist Park?

“It was mostly just Ronald [Acu?a Jr.], Joe [Jiménez] and I walking around and [using the accessible parking],” Strider said with a smile.

Strider has brought his great wit and surgically repaired right elbow to Spring Training, ready to complete a long rehab process and prove he’s still one of baseball’s elite pitchers. There’s no timetable for his return, but the heralded Braves starter is ready to get the competitive juices flowing again.

“That competitive state is just focusing less on what's going on on the rubber and a little bit more about what's going on at the plate, trying to produce outcomes,” Strider said.

In other words, Strider is nearing a point where he’ll be doing more than just working on his mechanics and building arm strength with bullpen sessions. Target dates haven’t been revealed, but he might soon be cleared to face hitters in live batting practice. After completing this exercise a few times, he would be cleared to begin pitching in games.

“I’m moving well,” Strider said. “I’ve done a lot of work in the lab, for lack of a better term. Things are in a good spot.”

Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos thinks Strider could pitch in a Grapefruit League game before the team leaves Florida on March 23.

“We have a calendar for him, but if we start saying, ‘Hey on this date, he’s doing this,’ and for whatever reason we push it back a day or two, then it becomes a story, and it’s viewed as a setback,” Anthopoulos said.

Because there haven’t been any setbacks, Strider remains in line to rejoin Atlanta’s rotation at some point in April, approximately 12 months after an internal brace was inserted to repair his right ulnar collateral ligament. This new procedure, completed on April 12, allows for a much quicker recovery than Tommy John surgery, a ligament transplant procedure that would have required closer to 18 months of rehab.

“I think he looks really good,” manager Brian Snitker said. “I think he’s where he’s supposed to be now.”

Strider’s latest surgery was necessary because his UCL became compromised by the unavoidable development of a bone fragment. Because the ligament didn’t have a significant tear, Dr. Barry Meister was able to perform the internal brace procedure that he created.

Strider underwent Tommy John surgery as a sophomore at Clemson University in 2019. Atlanta saw enough from him the following year to take him in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB Draft. Two years later, the hard-throwing hurler began establishing himself as one of baseball’s most exciting and dominant pitchers.

“He's very focused on what he's doing, and dedicated,” Snitker said. “I knew when they were talking about what he was going to go through [with the rehab], I was like, 'If anybody can do it, he can, because he's not going to take any shortcuts.' He’s going to be very dedicated in what he’s doing. I think that’s going to allow him to come back and be a very elite pitcher again.”

Strider passed the 200-strikeout mark faster than any pitcher in MLB history during what stands as his only two full MLB seasons. He needed 130 innings during his 2022 rookie season and 123 1/3 innings in '23. He already stands with John Smoltz (five times), Phil Niekro (three times) and Charlie Morton (twice) as the only Braves pitchers in modern history to record multiple 200-strikeout seasons.

The 26-year-old Atlanta hurler led MLB with 483 strikeouts from 2022-23. Gerrit Cole ranked second with the 479 strikeouts he tallied during that stretch, but Cole threw 91 1/3 more innings.

Once Strider rejoins Atlanta’s rotation, he’ll attempt to do what he’s always strived to do: improve.

“Everybody’s life journey here is about just being a better person, right?” Strider said. “What I enjoy is just finding ways to be better in any way. Because if I do one little thing better, it gives me that much better chance at being successful in the baseball field.”