ATLANTA -- Spencer Strider eagerly looks forward to the chance to help the Braves right the ship. But, at the same time, he and the team both understand the potential pitfalls of him prematurely ending a rehab assignment that will allow him to feel even more comfortable and confident than he did after a dominant outing for Triple-A Gwinnett on Friday.
“I like where things are trending,” Strider said after striking out eight and holding Nashville hitless over 5 1/3 innings. “I still have a ton of things to work on. Not that I expected to, but I don’t feel super sharp yet. How could I? I’m not even a year off surgery. So, I’ve got to have that patience with myself and also just the humility to know that doing the thing isn’t going to make me better at it. I need to deliberately work on stuff. Pitching in Triple-A is a good opportunity to do that.”
So, Strider will make at least one more rehab start for Gwinnett in Norfolk on Thursday. He’ll aim to throw 90 pitches. The outing will be two days shy of the one-year anniversary of the elbow surgery he underwent to repair a damaged ulnar collateral ligament.
“I think he knows his body better than anybody, where he’s synced up and things like that,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said before Atlanta's 4-0 loss to Miami on Saturday. “He’s probably not where he wants to be at this point yet, but everything sounded really good.”
Strider was lifted in the middle of a plate appearance on Friday, as soon as his pitch count hit 74. But he was pleased to mentally and physically condition himself to get into the sixth inning.
This was his fourth start, when counting his two Spring Training starts, both of which afforded him the option to exit in the process of an inning and return to pitch during the following inning.
“I’m doing Spring Training without the benefits of Spring Training,” Strider said. “So, I can be re-entered and that kind of stuff. So, to get to six innings is great. That's a big accomplishment. Still need to build up the pitch count all the way. Physically, how I'm responding so far has been good. There is just no way to stimulate stamina without doing it.”
If all goes well for Strider on Thursday, there’s a chance he could rejoin Atlanta’s rotation during a homestand that begins on April 18 against the Twins.
“Next time out, we’ll increase the pitch count and treat it like a normal start,” Strider said. “We won’t do anything crazy. But they’ll let me try to finish the outing.”
In other words, he won’t be removed in the middle of a plate appearance once he reaches 90 pitches. This final tune-up will give him and the Braves a true sense of whether he’s ready to make his first MLB start since his 2024 season ended after just two starts.
Strider isn’t going to help a Braves offense that has been blanked in three of the season’s first nine games. But as the electric hurler prepares for what could be his last Minor League rehab start, he could bring some much-needed energy to an Atlanta club that is off to a 1-8 start.
The offense could get a boost with the return of Sean Murphy (cracked left rib), who might finish his rehab assignment when he catches nine innings for Gwinnett on Sunday. The Braves haven’t revealed whether top prospect Drake Baldwin will remain in the Majors to serve as a backup catcher after Murphy returns.