With just seven games played, things couldn’t come at a worse time for Spencer Strider and the Atlanta Braves.
Following additional testing, Atlanta Braves ace SP Spencer Strider has been diagnosed with a damaged UCL in his right elbow. Strider stated that this issue on his elbow had been bothering him during Friday night’s 10-inning win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. He will now undergo under further evaluation to see what is going on his elbow with DR. Keith Meister. His season status is now in jeopardy. Braves manager Brian Snitker added, “it wasn’t good”, even though the team still had not received the results to Strider’s test. The injury potentially sidelining Strider for the entire 2024 season would deal a significant blow to the Atlanta Braves.
Without Strider in the rotation, the Braves chances of repeating as division champs may have started to dwindle. Atlanta must make a splash for a pitcher at the trade deadline to stay in the race. The Philadelphia Phillies appear to have overtaken the Braves as favorites to win the NL East division. Philadelphia has a healthy rotation featuring two aces in SPs Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler.
What’s Next for The Braves?
It may be time for Atlanta to start looking in the pitching market for someone to help fill in for Spencer Strider. Though the pitching market may be thin at the moment, the Braves also have the option to choose someone that’s currently in their minor league system. One option is SP Bryce Elder, who lost the fifth spot of the rotation this spring to SP Reynaldo Lopez. He’s the one that obviously makes a lot of sense as the current replacement of Strider.
Recently in AAA, Elder was coming off a strong start in which he pitched a combined shutout game. In that game, he managed to throw for 6.1 innings, with two hits allowed, zero runs, zero walks allowed, and seven strikeouts. And that was his only start so far, pretty impressive. Just last night, he gave up three earned runs in four innings with four strikeouts and three walks.
Another option that the Braves can go for is to call up a pitching prospect such as SP A.J Smith-Shawver or SP Hurston Waldrep. Both of whom are the Braves top prospects in their minor league system. Smith-Shawver began the 2023 season in High-A and ended up landing on Atlanta’s postseason roster. Then there is Hurston Waldrep. He was the club’s first round pick last season out of Florida and earned himself a ticket to Triple-A after signing. Waldrep does have good stuff in him, specifically with his splitter. Though he might have some command issues, he can still find a way to get the Braves to their winning ways.
Time to Worry?
If it means that Atlanta may be without their ace for the rest of the season, it may be time to worry. Without Strider, it’s hard to envision this team succeeding for the longer term. There’s going to be a lot of questions surrounding the rotation. One of them is going to be who’s going to step up for the team without their ace. Can SP Chris Sale be that guy? It’s uncertain due to his injury history he’s had in recent years. Sale hasn’t pitched a full season since 2017 when he was with the Boston Red Sox. He pitched in 32 games while finishing with an 17-8 record along with a 2.90 ERA and 308 strikeouts that season.
Then there’s SP Max Fried. He originally was supposed to be the true ace of this team moving forward. Unfortunately, he has been getting rocked lately in his first two starts now. His ERA has skyrocketed to 18.00 with just one strikeout and a 3.200 WHIP in five innings. That’s some real concern with the rotation right there. But there is some history of teams succeeding without their aces. For example, the Texas Rangers are coming a season where they won the World Series without their ace, SP Jacob deGrom.
You can say the same thing about RHP Max Scherzer, who the Rangers acquired from the New York Mets at last year’s trade deadline. He had something of a down year and is currently on the injured list alongside deGrom and free agent acquisition SP Tyler Mahle.
Joining a List of Popular Arms
Spencer Strider is not the only popular name that will be sidelined for a while. He joins other pitchers such as RHPs Gerrit Cole, Shane Bieber, and Eury Perez as the other names that would not be pitching temporarily. Hearing these names on this list has come as a surprise. The reason it has come as a surprise is because of how these pitchers are always healthy and know how to take care of themselves. And these are only the pitchers who have gone down in the last couple of weeks.
Bieber was off to a tremendous start, throwing 12 shutout innings. He only made 21 starts last season but reached 200 innings in 2022. Cole injured his arm late in Spring Training following back-to-back seasons of crossing the 200-inning threshold. Perez is coming off an electrifying rookie year where the Miami Marlins shut him down in the middle to prevent this exact situation. Arm injuries aren’t going away anytime soon.
