{"id":48183,"date":"2025-04-14T10:02:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T10:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=48183"},"modified":"2025-04-14T10:02:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T10:02:35","slug":"braves-expected-to-activate-spencer-strider-on-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=48183","title":{"rendered":"Braves Expected To Activate Spencer Strider On Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<header>By Nick Deeds | <time datetime=\"2025-04-13T21:41:05-05:00\">April 13, 2025<\/time> at <time datetime=\"2025-04-13T21:41:05-05:00\">9:41pm CDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div>\n<p>Prior to today\u2019s game against the Rays, the Braves announced that the club had optioned right-hander <strong>AJ Smith-Shawver<\/strong> to the minor leagues. In the short-term, the move made room for righty <strong>Michael Petersen<\/strong> to join the club. More important than that move, however, is the impending shift in the rotation Smith-Shawver\u2019s departure portends. As noted by multiple reporters, including David O\u2019Brien of The Athletic, Smith-Shawver\u2019s departure from the active roster will make way for the highly-anticipated return of right-hander <strong>Spencer Strider<\/strong> to the rotation on April 16 against the Blue Jays in Toronto.<\/p>\n<p>Strider, 26, hasn\u2019t pitched in just over a year after undergoing internal brace surgery to replace his UCL early last season. The right-hander has just two full MLB seasons under his belt, in 2022 and \u201923, but in that time he posted a 3.36 ERA with a 2.43 FIP and a 37.4% strikeout rate. Those incredible stats were enough to get Strider a second-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting, an All-Star appearance, and a fourth-place finish in NL Cy Young voting across the two seasons, and the decorated fireballer now figures to return to lead Atlanta\u2019s rotation once again now that he\u2019s healthy. It couldn\u2019t come at a better time, as the Braves have struggled badly out of the gate with a 4-11 start to open the season. Those struggles are due in large part to a rotation that has lost <strong>Reynaldo Lopez<\/strong> for much of the 2025 season to shoulder surgery and has seen reigning NL Cy Young winner <strong>Chris Sale<\/strong> scuffle 6.63 ERA in 19 innings of work across his first four starts this season.<\/p>\n<p>Strider\u2019s long-awaited return to the big league mound means the end of Smith-Shawver\u2019s stint in the rotation to open the year. The right-hander was generally serviceable for Atlanta across three starts, with a 4.61 ERA that clocks in just below league average and a 4.16 FIP. While Smith-Shawver\u2019s 26.2% strikeout rate in those starts was solid, a 12.3% walk rate raised enough concerns that the club has opted to stick with <strong>Bryce Elder<\/strong> in the rotation despite his ugly 7.20 ERA in two starts against the Dodgers and Rays. That leaves Elder to pair with <strong>Grant Holmes<\/strong> at the back of the club\u2019s rotation for the time being, though Smith-Shawver, <strong>Hurston Waldrep<\/strong>, and <strong>Dylan Dodd<\/strong> all remain available at Triple-A as potential rotation options if Elder fails to improve.<\/p>\n<p>Strider may not be the only reinforcement the Braves are getting from Triple-A this week. O\u2019Brien suggests that <em>\u201call signs are pointing to\u201d\u00a0<\/em>an impending call-up for outfielder <strong>Alex Verdugo<\/strong>, who was signed to a $1.5MM deal three weeks ago but has spent that time in the minor leagues catching up after missing most of Spring Training. It\u2019s possible he would\u2019ve spent the entire month of April at Triple-A, but things changed when <strong>Jurickson Profar<\/strong> was suspended for 80-games due to a failed PED test. That\u2019s left the Braves to try and get by with <strong>Jarred Kelenic<\/strong>, <strong>Stuart Fairchild<\/strong>, and <strong>Bryan De La Cruz<\/strong> in the outfield corners while <strong>Ronald Acuna Jr.<\/strong> heals up after suffering a torn ACL last May.<\/p>\n<p>Verdugo should help to bolster that outfield mix somewhat, giving the Braves a more proven veteran to handle left field in place of Profar while he serves his suspension. While he posted a lackluster 83 wRC+ with the Yankees last year, he had been a consistently league average bat for the Red Sox in each of his four seasons with the club prior to that, hitting .281\/.328\/.444 (105 wRC+) overall during his time in Boston. Whether Verdugo will ultimately join the Braves in Toronto for their series against the Blue Jays or instead be called up next weekend for their series against the Twins remains to be seen, but O\u2019Brien indicates that Verdugo\u2019s return to the majors appears to be imminent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>View Comments (24)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Braves are also expected to activate Alex Verdugo this week. Read more at MLB Trade Rumors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":48186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1331,744,1570,741],"class_list":["post-48183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-aj-smith-shawver","tag-alex-verdugo","tag-michael-petersen","tag-spencer-strider"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Braves Expected To Activate Spencer Strider On Wednesday - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=48183\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Braves Expected To Activate Spencer Strider On Wednesday - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Braves are also expected to activate Alex Verdugo this week. 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