Atlanta Braves right-hander Spencer Strider will undergo an MRI on Saturday after reporting that his elbow was bothering him during Friday night’s 10-inning win over the Arizona Diamondbacks (box score), according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman.
Strider, 25, had an uncharacteristic outing in several respects. For starters, his fastball showed diminished velocity. He averaged 95.9 mph on Friday, more than a half tick lower than his first start (96.7) and well beneath his 97.2 mph average from 2023. Strider also had reduced effectiveness: he surrendered five runs on seven hits and three walks over the course of four innings pitched.
“I thought it was just one of those nights,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters after the team’s home opener on Friday. “Then [Strider] came in and was complaining about his elbow … He was uncomfortable with how it was feeling.”
Strider, now in his third full big-league season, has established himself as one of the league’s top starting pitchers. He entered Friday with a career 3.37 ERA (128 ERA+) and a 4.63 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He finished fourth in National League Cy Young Award voting last season after compiling a 115 ERA+ and a 13.5 strikeouts per nine rate over 186 ⅔ frames.
Should Strider require time on the injured list — and it’s too soon to know either way — the Braves would have several options for filling his rotation spot. Those include young right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver and 2023 All-Star Bryce Elder along with various pitchers who have made MLB starts in the past, incluidng Dylan Dodd, Allan Winans, and Huascar Ynoa.
The Braves trailed throughout most of Friday’s contest. They were able to force extra innings by scoring three combined runs in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings. Atlanta then secured its fourth win of the year in the 10th inning, when a Travis d’Arnaud single brought in the winning run.
The Braves will continue their series with the Diamondbacks on Saturday.
