This page may contain affiliate links. If you click and sign up, make a deposit, or place a wager, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Strider allowed two hits and a walk over four scoreless innings in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Rays. He struck out five.
The right-hander built up to 61 pitches (43 strikes) and mostly sat 94-95 mph with his fastball, topping out at 96.5 mph. Strider might not get back his pre-injury heat -- he was averaging 97.2 mph with his four-seamer as recently as 2023 -- but he's expanded his arsenal with a curveball in addition to his slider and changeup, and he looked comfortable with all four offerings Wednesday. Strider is looking to rebound from an uncharacteristically shaky 4.45 ERA and 1.40 WHIP over 23 starts in 2025.
... See More... See Less
Braves' Spencer Strider: Maintains velocity in third start
Rotowire
Strider struck out five and gave up two hits and one walk over four innings in Wednesday's Grapefruit League start against the Rays.
Making his third start of the spring, Strider built up to 61 pitches (43 strikes) and delivered his best performance to date. He induced nine swinging strikes -- including five with his slider -- and retired eight of 12 batters via either strikeout or groundout, with another out coming on a pickoff. Perhaps more importantly, the velocity gains Strider noticed in his previous start last Thursday carried over into Wednesday's outing. He peaked at 96.5 miles per hour with his four-seam fastball and averaged 94.8 mph overall, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com.
Strider topped out at 96.7 mph with his fastball during Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Blue Jays.
The right-hander didn't get the best results, allowing two runs on two hits and a walk over 2.1 innings after taking over for Chris Sale to begin the fourth inning, but Strider struck out four batters and the uptick in velocity was an encouraging sign after he was in the 92-94 mph range in his last spring start. Atlanta needs Strider to return to form after he stumbled to a 4.45 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and 131:51 K:BB over 125.1 innings last season in his return from April 2024 elbow surgery.
1:41
1:10
9:04
9:42
9:34
10:30
8:52
0:26
10:07
9:29
1:08
7:25
11:22
10:19
8:27
9:07
10:43
0:26
