Braves Lose Spencer Strider to Apparent Injury

The Atlanta Braves just can’t seem to catch a break on the injury front. Spencer Strider has missed his latest start due to an oblique injury, per a source. He will start the season on the injured list.

Strider was scratched from his start on Monday. Didier Fuentes has been penciled in to take his place. 

The Braves are set to face the Pirates in Bradenton with a 1:05 p.m. first pitch. It’s their second-to-last spring training game this season, and it was supposed to be Strider's last start before the regular season.

The Braves are already down three rotation arms since spring training started. Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep are on the 60-day injured list with loose bodies in the elbow. Joey Wentz is out for the season with an ACL injury. On top of that, AJ Smith-Shawver is already out recovering from Tommy John surgery that repairs a torn UCL.

Strider has made three appearances, two of which have been starts, in spring training. He has been working to set himself up for a bounce-back season. For now, he is still set to do that. We’ll see if that’s still the case. 

Major injuries have impacted the past two seasons. The first was a UCL injury that required a brace to mend it. He went down two starts into the 2024 season and sat out for about a year. After making just one start after he returned, he was sidelined with a hamstring injury. 

Once he got past those two ailments, he was available without fail during the 2025 season. While healthy, he struggled to find consistency. 

In 23 starts, he pitched to a 4.45 ERA, a 1.39 WHIP and 131 strikeouts in 121 1/3 innings pitched. After being reliant on the power that was behind his fastball, he’s tasked with learning to pitch in a new way. During the spring, he’s worked to get his fastball back up to snuff while also working to mix his pitches better. 

"If guys aren't up there respecting your fastball or whatever it takes to get that, it's a very difficult path to success," he said earlier this month. "Commanding the offspeed is going to help."

He was confirmed to be in the starting rotation along with Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, and Grant Holmes. At the time of this article’s publication, a fifth starter has yet to be determined. It’s likely to be Bryce Elder. He led the team in starts and innings pitched last season as injuries mounted. He’s been tasked to do it again. 

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