Day After Thoughts On Spencer Strider Return to Braves

Spencer Strider made his return to the Atlanta Braves Tuesday night in the 5-3 loss to the Washington Nationals. He pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk while striking out three. He allowed a home run, hit two batters and a run scored on a wild pitch.

He threw 46 of his 75 pitches for strikes. His fastball averaged 95 mph, topping out at 97 mph. However, most of his pitches between 96 and 97 came very early in the game. Later in his outing, it had dropped down to 93 with one as low as 92.6.

It wasn't the strong outing that the Braves had hoped to see, but there are some positives to take from it. One is that the bulk of the damage by Nationals bats came in the first inning. Three runs on four hits and the wild pitch came during the first inning.

After that, he settled in more, with his best inning arguably coming in the third. After allowing a lead-off single, he turned a double play and then go another ground out to end the inning.

It's easy to be concerned after Strider's outing. The velocity wasn't there after a couple innings and his command was missing as well. However, consider this: This was his second MLB start since April 5, 2024. Regardless of how good his Spring Training, rehab and sim outings all went, this is still the case. None of these are ever quite like the real thing. He also built up just to spend nearly a month on the injured list.

He also showed the velocity can be there. As he gets back to full strength, we could see him top 97 deeper into games.

Between his elbow and his hamstring, he's going to need a few starts to truly get back to doing what we expect of him. If he's 10 starts in without missing any time and there are problems, then we have a problem. However, hold off on smacking the panic button. Don't smack it if he isn't lights out in five days either. In two or three starts, he going to be much closer to what we're looking to see.

It's also possible we see a new version of Spencer Strider two after these injuries. That's not a bad thing either. He makes adjustments and then is the same strong arm anyway.

Patience as he sorts things out is key here.

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