Spencer Strider breaks silence on first outing in nearly a year

Atlanta Braves starter Spencer Strider made his spring training debut on Monday, taking the mound for the first time since his season-ending injury last April. And Strider dominated in 2.2 innings of work against the Boston Red Sox in a Grapefruit League matchup.

Following the outing, Strider spoke about getting back in a game after rehabbing his elbow for nearly a year.

“It’s like a little reward sprinkled on the pathway, kind of. That’s how I view it… It’s also just a good kind of test for the work you’ve been doing. I think you get to see some things at game speed that you just can’t really analyze super well in bullpens and stuff like that. To go through the full routine, hear the national anthem, do all that stuff, shake hands with the guys before, you get a more honest evaluation of everything… [I’m] already feeling a lot of good stuff that kind of validates the work we’ve been doing, and [I’ll] keep moving forward,” Strider said, via Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Spencer Strider is eager to return to the Braves’ rotation

Spencer Strider breaks silence on first outing in nearly a year — Jonathan Dyer-Imagn

In his long-awaited return to game action, Strider pitched a scoreless 2.2 innings, allowing no hits or walks and striking out six batters. He struck out five straight Red Sox at one point in a strong debut.

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“You want to see your stuff at game speed… To see command come with me – I felt like my command has been good. To see the stuff, metrics on the pitches and stuff, movement.. to see that come, that’s nice. Velocity is kind of the last piece to me. That’s definitely something I’d like to have a slow build with. But still, it seemed like the ball was getting on guys. I know it’s spring training, but definitely a good one,” Strider added per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Strider was limited to two starts for the Braves in 2024. An elbow injury ended his season in April as he was forced to undergo surgery to repair bone fragments in his UCL – a condition that developed after an earlier Tommy John surgery.

Strider was one of many Braves players forced to miss time last season as injuries plagued the team. The previous year’s NL MVP, Ronald Acuna Jr., was lost for the season after tearing his ACL.

Manager Brian Snitker views the return of Acuna and Strider as two really good trades that the team will make after the season starts. The Braves expect Strider to rejoin the rotation in late April and Acuna should be back in the second half of May. After a promising spring training debut, Strider appears to be on schedule.