The Atlanta Braves announced they have placed starting pitcher Spencer Strider on the 15-day IL with a strained left oblique muscle, backdated to September 21st. RHP Alan Rangel will be recalled in a corresponding move. The Braves have also reinstated Ehire Adrianza from the 10-day IL and have optioned infielder Rylan Bannon to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Strider has been nothing short of sensational for Atlanta in 2022. Slotted as a bullpen arm to start the season, Strider dominated in relief, posting a 2.22 ERA in 24 1/3 innings out of the ’pen. The Braves transitioned the rookie to the rotation in May 30, where he has been one of the most effective starters in baseball. In 107 1/3 innings over 20 starts, Strider has held opponents to a .183 BA and a minuscule .274 slugging. He was named NL Rookie of the Month in July and has amassed 202 strikeouts between his work in the bullpen and the rotation, good for fourth in the senior circuit.
Strider’s move to the IL follows a brilliant outing on September 18th against the Phillies, in which he struck out 10 batters and gave up one run over six innings. He left the game with a tender left oblique, which prompted the Braves to preemptively push back his next start as a precaution. Strider will remain on the IL until the final day of the regular season, calling his readiness for the postseason into question should he suffer any setbacks. For the time being, it seems likely that right-hander Bryce Elder will continue to fill Strider’s spot in the rotation, as he did when Strider was initially pushed back. Alan Rangel will be recalled to account for the Braves’ hole in their pitching matrix. Rangel has started 26 games in 2022 for Double-A Mississippi and has accumulated a 5.26 ERA.
It will be a massive loss for Atlanta if Strider is unable to pitch in the postseason. This will hold especially true if the Braves are unable to win the NL East and are forced to compete in one of the NL Wild Card Series, where a 1-2 punch of Strider and Max Fried would be particularly formidable. Should Strider not be available for the Wild Card Series, the Braves rotation figures to be Fried in Game 1, Kyle Wright in Game 2, and Charlie Morton in the decider. There is also the scenario in which Strider, without the luxury of a traditional minor league rehab process, comes out of the bullpen for Atlanta for one or more postseason series. Regardless of what transpires, Brian Snitker and his staff will have their hands full as they balance the Braves’ immediate postseason aspirations with the future health of their budding ace.
Adrianza will return to Atlanta’s bench after being placed on the 10-day IL with a left quad strain. The 33-year old utility infielder began 2022 with the Nationals before being returning to the Braves via a trade deadline swap. Adrianza has only logged eight at-bats for the Braves since his arrival in August, collecting a singular hit. Adrianza takes the place of infielder Rylan Bannon, who the Braves claimed off waivers in August. Bannon only played in one game during his time with the Braves and made no plate-appearances.
That’s a big blow
NL WC Playoff Series starts Oct 7.
NLCS starts Oct 11.
Strider should be healthy by then. Probably more rested than expected had he continued to pitch.
Hope so, but obliques tend to linger.
15 day IL doesn’t mean out for only 15 days though. It may, but I’d expect he’s still feeling the effects and not fully healthy on Oct. 11th. He may give it a go though, but in a 3 game set, it could be a little risky to run out a starter who isn’t fully healthy.
Poor guy , hope he doesn’t make it back until next year since this year’s innings increase will render him useless!
Met’s angriest little troll Books posting another classless comment. Same old same old for him. Troll on Mutt fan.
Thats if they make it there. The Braves look like they gonna be a wild card and anything can happen in a 3 game series and the bats have gone cold particularlly Matt Olson. And it looks like they will play the Phillies and that means Wheeler and Nola.
Fried and Wright arent exactly chopped liver
Yeah, but while we’re on the subject Morton and Odorizzi are sorta like bagels, lox, and a schmear of cream cheese.
That’s not good.
Yeah, those things tend not to heal very fast, not good!
Ruh roh
Awesome
No one likes people who cheer for other teams injuries
Could’ve been sarcasm though, like “Awesome, our best pitcher is hurt before the playoffs”.
True, my perception is tainted by MetsFan22 gloating over Braves injuries. I may have jumped to conclusions
Don’t forget Books. He’s just as guilty of that as 22 is. See his comment at the start of the thread.
Keeps him out of the important series against the Mets…
Sounds more like they are trying to rest him, and after losing 2 to the Philies are expecting to be the Wild Card and not the Eastern Champ.
This conspiracy theory makes no sense. Braves and Mets desperately want the bye. No one is resting anyone.
In ways make absolute sense… 1) He’s pitched this year more than he ever has. 2) His home ./ away he is 5-4 on the road, his next 2 starts would have been on the road Philly & DC followed by a potential 3rd game start in the NY series…
Better to rest him now then to run the risk of dead arm in the playoffs…
Face it the Braves know that they are in the playoffs… they also know that when healthy thay match up with anyone.
That makes sense VJ. The innings issue is something they’d have to address at some point. This allows Strider to get some rest along without throwing 21 or more innings. I’m sure the injury is real but maybe not enough to IL him under normal circumstances.
As a Mets fan my concern is this inspires a tired Braves team to go into “man down” like they did with Acuna (under different circumstances) last year.
I am not a fan but I still recognize Strider has had a remarkable year.
Look at today’s lineup & tell me that with a straight face. Divisional race is over already.
Granted today the Braves should win with Wright on the mound, But sorry tomorrow Morton does not inspire success… So basically after the weekend Braves will more than likely sit at 3.5 out…
They then need to hope that the Mets lose a game or 2 and they then sweep them next weekend…
Never say never, but the odds are becoming longer…
That didn’t age too well Toaster. Today’s lineup toasted the Phils behind Wright’s ho hum as usual solid outing. The stopper stops ’em again.
As I was saying about what the innings increase could cause. Still hate to see this even as a bitter rival during a chase. Get well soon Spencer, but let’s go Mets.
Brian Snitker would do well to keep up with your MLBTR comments. You told him to, why doesn’t he listen?
Wow. This is a killer blow in a season of killer blows for the Braves. I would hate to see him miss any playoff time.
If I was you(pghlies fan) who they might play in the WC round. I’d want strider not to make it back in time.
You aren’t VPH. He has class.
Yes he does, unlike angry little Mutts trolls 22 and Books.
NL east is over!
Poor taste.
The Braves just need to get him healthy and concentrate on getting their hitting back. The division this year is going to the Mets. Even though I’m a huge Braves fan, the Mets deserve a division title.
If I may quote Clint Eastwood from his film The Unforgiven—-“Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.”
I hope he gets healthy soon, I was really excited for a possible Strider vs Mets matchup in the playoffs.
I would say precautionary and more in line with resting him for the playoffs.
Playoffs should be good, don’t like the byes at all, might be a disadvantage in some respect.
The regular season race here in late September has also been less interesting this season than in previous seasons when there were only two wild cards. All around in that regard the new playoff system is less competitive than the new one.
Having said that, both leagues will put forth six teams with a shot to win, and this being baseball, each team will have a real shot at winning the World Series.
Some very exciting story lines in the NL, Pujols, Molina, Wainwright and the Cardinals make one last push at a title, Bryce Harper’s best shot at a WS in a decade with the underdog Phillies, Scherzer and DeGrom lead the Mets, it’s rookie Spencer Strider and Max Fried for the Braves, Blake Snell may be better than them all with Juan Soto behind him, and the winningest team in baseball, the LA Dodgers, who enter as the favorite.
Braves have been getting injured at the wrong time…
done for the year:
Luke Jackson
Mike Soroka (AAA)
Manny Pina
Adam Duvall
Huascar Ynoa (AAA)
Day to Day:
Ronald Acuna
IL:
Spencer Strider
Chadwick Tromp
Ian Anderson (AAA)
Darren O’Day
Kirby Yates
Ozzie Albies
I think they’re pretty well better off without those “out for year” guys. They have had a lot of dings but for the most part have been very lucky in who has gotten the more severe injuries.
Lol. Duvall hit 38 HRs and led the league in RBIs last season Luke Jackson made 71 appearances last year and pitched to a 1.98 ERA and a ERA+ of 220.
Knowing the predictability of baseball, he will miss the rest of the season.
See you next season, mustache boyyyy
Troll on angry little no class troll.
Both J-Rod and Strider, the presumed faves for RoY in each league, going on the IL. Does this give Harris II an opening to swoop in, though it’s been close with Strider for the award all year?
Strider all the way
Unfortunate turn of events, but when you continue to pitch with any injury you start compensating for it and that can lead to other injuries. Best to let him rest and heal.
Malpractice by the Braves. He should have been Strasburg’d and shut down for the year at 120 innings. They already won the WS last season, they don’t need to chase a ring at the expense of long term health. He had less than 100 minor league innings last year and basically 1 year of college ball in 2018 of 50 innings as a reliver. So they wanted him to throw more innings this season than the last 4 seasons combined. This was the expected result. They didn’t manage his workload at all, and this is the consequence.
On the bright side, now he has more time to groom that beautiful mustache
On the other hand, 2012 could easily have wound up being Strasburg’s best and only shot at a WS. The 2019 team won, but it was far from the Nats’ best team of that decade and by early 2019 it looked like their window was shut. It’s debatable whether shutting him down had any impact in his subsequent career, which sadly looks like it’s over.
The Braves don’t believe in innings limits. They’ve said it a million times. https://www.audacy.com/929thegame/sports/atlanta-braves/do-the-braves-have-an-innings-limit-on-spencer-strider
Time to rally Braves Country! Adversity and how you handle it makes you stronger. Even with this skid I can’t wait to be at Truist next Friday tomahawk in hand watching our boys Battle! For the A!
Braves have long had a tendency to have good young starters just flat out disappear while still in their 20s. I can think of Mike Soroka, Mike Foltynewicz, Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy, Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson (RIP), Chuck James. Might even be one or two I have forgotten.
I’m sure it happens to all teams, but over the past decade plus, it seems to have afflicted the Braves more than most.
I recall all of these pitchers, Tommy Hansen was a big name prospect, probably the most heralded of all the names, didn’t know that he died, but I remember him having a few good starts in the MLB.
Hopefully Soroka gets it back next season.
Yeah Hanson OD’d several years back. I think he was already out of baseball when it happened. Very sad story.
I’m impressed with your knowledge of Braves pitchers hiflew.
I have always have a passing interest in the Braves since the days of superstation WTBS with Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, and Rick Mahler. Plus, facts like that just seem to stick in my head and never leave for some reason.
Prospects and especially pitching hard to figure out long term issues and injuries occur. Mike Soroka; Kris Medlen; and Brandon Beachy all had major injuries occur. Can’t remember either Medlen or Beachy had a tommy john surgery that didn’t take so he needed a second one. Mike Foltynewicz was a mental side issue and I don’t think he ever recovered from the play off game where he couldn’t get out of the first inning against the Cardinals.
Sometimes we as fans and teams get excited over prospects and think they are going be the greatest, than the league adjusts to them. Also prospects can be overrated or underrated. Just look at any draft class from years back and you will see all stars and hall of fames that someone who never had a mlb carreer were taken ahead of them
I agree with you that there is a solid reason behind each of their failures. I was just pointing out that the Braves seemed to have an inordinate amount of these young pitchers that failed before 30 for whatever reason.
I think Medlen and Beachy both had multiple TJs if I am not mistaken.
All those guys were under the leadership of one Roger McDowell who was fired primarily b/c of this. Only recent one other than Soroka, which was completely random and quite a rare
injury for a pitcher, and Huscar Ynoa who tried to fight a bench in Milwaukee. Most of Roger McDowell’s guys were Tommy Johns or shoulders.
Don’t want any contenders to have key irreplaceable injuries last 2 weeks. Baseball at its best when last series of the year means a ton. Heal up
Injuries to other teams played a part in the Braves’ run to the WS win last year. Now they are being hit by injuries.
superhero name, it counts
You can rest him for the next three weeks…however,with an oblique strain it only takes one little tweak to put you back to where you started from. They can be stubborn.
Minter. Do it. Build him up quick. 3 innings, try to get to 5 and then let him go 6-7 for playoffs. Maybe Strider is back or not.
Someone form the Braves gets hurt like every other day.
This is absolutely devastating for the Braves especially after Albies being lost for good and Acuña with his constant injuries. I was hopeful Soroka would make it back but that too is not happening. Still a good team but after losing the last 3 games they are probably playing in the Wild Card playoffs (which at least all 3 games will be in Atlanta). I think the single biggest thing that cost them the division was Manfred and his extra innings rule. If certain key guys get hot they can still go deep into the playoffs but losing Strider is huge. I appreciate the majority of you guys that are fans of opposing teams being civil about this.
It’s official. Braves resting Olson playing Riley at first and Arcia at third. Probably conceding the NL East and starting to rest some guys. Olson definitely needs it.
Actually their biggest killer was that they had a losing record against teams that were .500 or better…(currently at 31 – 34)… As well as an awful start…
Righty heavy lineup with a southpaw on the mound. Giving Olson a mental reset. This is STILL a team going to the playoffs. Heck a week ago the had a what 5 game winning streak and swept the Phils. Get rest, get right mentally and hopefully physically. No way I’m giving up on a team with 90 plus wins and the 3rd best record in the NL. They are pressing and it’s obvious on their faces the game is speeding up. Kyle Wright today let’s go get this dude number 20!
A rookie of the year gone! Terrible. One of the best young pitches in Baseball Too Bad!
Strider said after the Braves skipped his last start that he wanted to pitch. Braves are just being cautious w/him. The extra rest should be all he needs to be ready for the playoffs. The internet doctors in this thread that have diagnosed him as done for the season or worse should have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. The classless Mutts trolls celebrating the Strider to the IL move belong in internet jail.
Jacob deGrom looked great today btw.