April 7: The Braves officially placed Strider on the 15-day injured list this morning with a UCL sprain. The club recalled right-hander Allan Winans in the corresponding move. Winans, 28, posted a 5.29 ERA and 4.09 FIP in six starts with Atlanta last year.
April 6: Braves right-hander Spencer Strider underwent an MRI today and the testing revealed that the ace hurler has suffered damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, per a team announcement. The next step for the Braves is for Strider to be evaluated by noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister, though the club noted that a date for that visit has yet to be determined.
UCL damage is often a precursor to Tommy John surgery, though it appears no determination has yet been made regarding Strider’s specific treatment plan. If Strider does end up going under the knife, it won’t be the first time the hurler’s right elbow has required surgery. Before being drafted by the Braves in the fourth round of the 2020 draft, Strider underwent Tommy John surgery back in 2019 while pitching for Clemson University. If required, a second surgery would surely bring Strider’s 2024 campaign to an early close while also shelving him for much of the 2025 campaign as well.
Even less severe options are likely to result in an extended absence for the right-hander, however. For example, Red Sox righty Lucas Giolito underwent an internal brace procedure on his UCL last month that could allow him to pitch the entire 2025 campaign, though he’ll still miss all of the current season. Meanwhile, Guardians right-hander Triston McKenzie required only rehab for a UCL sprain suffered last June and managed to return to the mound after just over three months on the shelf.
Regardless of what treatment is ultimately prescribed for Strider, it appears he’s ticketed for a significant absence. It’s a brutal blow for the Braves, though not entirely unexpected after the club announced yesterday that Strider would undergo an MRI on his elbow. The fourth place finisher in NL Cy Young award voting last year, Strider has emerged as one of the best young pitchers in the sport over the past two seasons, pitching to an excellent 3.36 ERA with a sterling 2.43 FIP while striking out a sensational 37.4% of batters faced. That incredible strikeout rate is by far the best of all qualified starters over the past two seasons, with reigning NL Cy Young award winner Blake Snell, who sports a 31.7% rate, standing as the only other pitcher to post a figure north of 30%.
Fortunately for Atlanta, the club is about as well equipped as any team could be to handle an extended absence from a pitcher of Strider’s caliber. Pending free agent Max Fried is an ace in his own right with a career 3.06 ERA, while veteran southpaw Chris Sale is only a few years removed from being one of the most dominant pitchers on the planet in Chicago and Boston. With those two at the front of the rotation, veterans Charlie Morton and Reynaldo Lopez in the middle, and quality youngsters Bryce Elder and AJ Smith-Shawver available as depth options for the fifth spot in the rotation, the Braves’ rotation should be able to support the club’s excellent offense as they push for their seventh consecutive NL East title even without Strider in the mix.
WHY
New curveball. Those tend to wreak havoc on arms. ftw.usatoday.com/lists/spencer-strider-new-curveba…
These coaching staffs overseeing stuff like that need to be held accountable.
Ability to earn big gets pitchers do what is not normal as they look for an edge. How about Sale comeback player of the year?…
They are…players get hurt..the teams lose..in many instances the coaches and managers are fired as a result of the losing..when more often than not the injury had little nothing to dowith a new pitch or coaching….if the team wins despite losing the player then the coaches and managers are rewarded..and rightly so..
BAD NEWS BAD NEWS BAD NEWS. Lets accentuate on the positive… ATL has a massive offensive attack
My grandma could pitch, and keep us in the game…
After all these years, I can’t understand how Nolan Ryan could pitch 5000+ innings & not “suffer” this diagnosis. Cornhole competition is looking better and better (so are darts)
Nola
Prove it
Prove what, that he pitched 5386 innings? the quality of posters has bottomed out.
Ryan was a master of his body from what I hear…practicing tai chi for instance. He incorporated his whole body fluidly into throwing. Easy gas you might say, sort of. Spencer, for instance, looks much more ridgid, less fluid, like most starters today. Overtaxing elbows and shoulders. Much less of the old actual windups and more ridgid upright body and just putting the ball near ear and throwing. Ryan’s entire body looks relaxed like he’s just had a massage and is melting like butter, from what I’ve seen.
Is your grandma named Max?
He was beyond great
I bet the White Sox wish they still had Cease. They likely would have been offered a truckload of talent, at this time by the Braves.
Rishi have you seen what Strider does? That dude is very in tune with his body. He told Snit his arm was hurt and pulled himself after the 4th. No one on the team knew. That guy will be back but it better be smarter if he wants to last. You can know your body but trying to do what he has done for a career is extremely hard on the body.
The Braves don’t have a truckload of talent but I’m sure AA could have swung a deal with his sweet talking.
I know he has a plethora of pregame stretches/exercises he does and that’s great but, speculatively speaking, when you stretch it involves a lot of relaxation and attention to really do it properly and if someone were a bit stressed or unfocused it would be very easy to stretch muscles incorrectly and actually cause injury. This is one reason why, during yoga for instance, you try to remain aware and relaxed.
He also eats really well, rests and listens to his body but big boy money makes you do dumb things sometimes.
Perhaps
Maybe, but Strider almost certainly throws harder on average than Nolan Ryan, who routinely faced lineups with just two or three HR threats, .
Hard work aside (don’t they all?), Ryan was obviously a freak of nature, the same way Usain Bolt or Wilt Chamberlain was.
Credit where it’s due, but Ryan didn’t throw the way he did for 27 years because he worked harder than 10,000 other guys—he didn’t.
Curly just look at the changes on the field and to the field between Ryan’s final year and now.
Curly – It sure has. If this place implemented a minimum age by requiring all to use a credit card to pay a nominal fee, I’d be all for it. That would eliminate multiple accounts too.
Rishi – That’s how real pitchers were taught how to throw, use the momentum of their entire body especially their core (hips, thighs, butt).
Whenever Jon Lester pitched on the road, all the fans would chant “Pitcher got a big butt” ….. but Jon used that big butt to his advantage and silenced the crowd with that big butt.
Then you’ve got skinny dudes like Sale who have no hips, butt or thighs and therefore put additional strain on their shoulder and arm. No surprise they end up injured.
Jack – Strider sure does throw harder, that max effort all the time is the norm these days. But then again, Strider averaged less than 6 innings a start last year …. so yeah, it’s a lot easier to throw harder when you don’t throw as many pitches.
You’re seriously trying to say Ryan faced weaker hitters?
Look at the MLB OPS during Ryan’s time ….. .747 in 1987, .736 in 1993, .730 in 1977, .727 in 1979.
And the MLB OPS during Strider’s 2 years? .706 and .734
Saying Ryan didn’t worker isn’t worth a response.
Nolan Ryan kept his arm closer to his body.
No, her name was Warren, she only pitched 5046 innings
Oh Boy!!!!! That’s not good at all
Surely it has nothing to do with max effort 98-100 MPH fastballs every pitch. Blaming curve balls and splitters when there’s no conclusive evidence to suggest these things. Meanwhile every fire ball lancer undergoes like 2 TJS per career. Human beings were never meant to perform like this and it’s time to admit it. High School 14U rules now. 60-70 pitches max for starters add a 27 man active roster for another BP arm to compensate. Tired of seeing talented pitchers in their 20s blow out their arms before even being eligible for free agency. Of course this wouldn’t be a problem if baseball stopped fetishizing speed and power and got back to fundamentals which is to change speeds and locate. You know… Actually PITCH and not just throwing. Nobody outside of Zack Gallen and Kyle Hendricks even actually pitches anymore.
They get paid handsomely to do so
Well, Strider also has excellent extension and leg drive that significantly adds to his ability to throw so hard.
It’s just tricky anytime you’re putting that kind of torque and pressure on a part of your body repeatedly.
We can all sit here and blame this or blame that, but the facts are it’s a horrible injury for a young man that has surpassed all expectations.
It’s just a shame. He prepares his body religiously and is constantly trying to do whatever he can to avoid such a devastating injury.
Even if you do everything “the right way” or the best way you know how, sometimes these things just happen.
@Washman He has never thrown a curveball in a MLB game tile this season. I’d say it’s clearly at the very least a contributing factor. I’d say the velocity did him no favors either.
Nobody putside of Gallen and Hendricks?? Verlander has been great throughout his career changing speeds and keeping batters off balance. His MVP season he was throwing faster in 6th and 7th innings of games then he had been in the first 5 innings.
If we had a bunch of junkballers changing speeds and locating against today’s hitters, offensive production would soar to new heights, even higher than in 1929-30. You can’t consistently get these elite hitters of today out doing that. The guys that are relatively good at it, like Marco Gonzales, still struggle to get by, no matter how tricky and deceptive they are. Enough with this constant yearning for a return to low-velocity pitching. It’s not happening, and it wouldn’t work anyway.
Hank the hitters are elite because they have advantages today. Smaller foul territory, the luxury of having arm and hand protectors, balls that travel further, better bats, well protected by umpires, mostly smaller ballparks, and being allowed to crowd the plate with less fear than ever.
Hitters are in a position to be elite. Elite hitters not necessarily.
“Of course this wouldn’t be a problem if baseball stopped fetishizing speed and power and got back to fundamentals which is to change speeds and locate. You know… Actually PITCH and not just throwing.”
That’s nice in theory, but what pitcher is intentionally going to throw with less velocity just because they MIGHT get hurt in the future? It’s too tempting for most to avoid.
It’s interesting that Greg Maddux deliberately took a couple of mph off his fastball because he got more movement. A byproduct was that he never pitched fewer than 33 starts in a full season, and never went on the DL.
@its OF the current stadiums that have as another or been renovated the fields are in total 1.4% smaller. Not all that significant but yes smaller.
Foul territory the disparity is much greater. However I’m not sure what the statistics are as far as impact. It’s definitely not going to be as large as the disparity in size. But I’d assume there were a decent bit more foul outs in old parks.
Another thing to consider is some old stadiums had crazy dimensions that can’t be accounted for just by total playing field size. Polo Grounds had corners that were 276 ft and 258. It would be a huge benefit to many modern pull hitters.
I thought he said all he did was throw with Max velocity on every pitch. Since he throws almost all fast balls and sliders, as hard as he can, no wonder he has arm problems. Not a big Atlanta follower, so please correct me if I am wrong.
Because the dominoes fall every year.
Shares initials with Stephen Strasberg?
Autocorrect Strasburg
Yikes… Was hoping it was the same elbow inflammation like Gerritt Cole.
He should have gone to Cole’s noted orthopedic surgeon, Dr ElAttrache, instead. He seems to be “invasive averse”.
ElAtteache was Acuna’s ACL guy.
We need Jobe to come out of retirement
And perform TJs from beyond the grave.
Jobe for the Hall of Fame!
Tommy John belongs in the HOF
Cole is not out of the woods until the less invasive option actually works..wait till a time comes and it doesnt then the ppl on this board will crush the med staff for wasting time and not doing surgery asap
@Poolhalljunkies While I agree that Cole has some mileage under him, it has been determined that he doesn’t have any ligament damage so there really isn’t anything to surgically correct in his elbow.
Yeah, and how many times have we heard that before? Just last week the Marlin’s kid didn’t have any damage either and yet here they are
This hurts the Braves rotation big time. Good thing Braves have decent Minor league depth.
Like 21′ with Acuna they will need people to step up (internally probably this time). Makes Max staying healthy that much more important. With innings limits for Reynaldo and likely Sale, players prone to injury (mainly Sale but Max too), and a 40 year old starter this rotation is going to be very different looking later on. Looks like Elder will be on team for now.
They will try to trade for Luzardo.
I doubt it. They’ll likely just rush their minor leaguers up a bit. One person’s injury is another’s opportunity. They will maybe get some low key guy at deadline they think they can unlock or is unlucky, sort of like Lynn last season or Odorizi in 22′. Maybe even a big offense for pitching move to get someone with more than a year of control for when Frieds gone.
AJSS and Waldrep will get their chance before long.
He’s gonna end up being an expensive closer.
There’s closers making way more than he is AAV
He’d be making more than Iglesias is currently. I also didn’t say he’d be the MOST expensive closer.
Smoltz 2.0
Wow! I personally thought he was going awfully hard in spring training. Time for everyone to step up!
The Braves star pitchers always get hurt, and the Braves always keep winning. Strider is special, so this one hurts, but the Braves are still top dog.
I’m no doctor but i’m guessing a similar timeline to walker buehler. So a return around 2026
Eury, bieber, strider… like dominoes
Loaisaga too… and Giolito.
Garfield loves loaisaga
Not to mention Sandy Alcantara, Shane McClanahan, and Felix Baustista coming into the year
Trevor Stephen in Spring Training as well.
We could honestly continue rattling off names for hours. I hate to even put this out there, but I’m almost anticipating the Paul Skenes report coming out this year ala Andrew Painter
Reliever risk? This guy is going to dominate as a starter, and soon.
Maybe texas should have taken things slower with leiter & not started him off immediately in AA.
But idk too much about him. Maybe he’s just a bust. Pitching prospects are always risky
New Younger guys need to learn how to pitch, and not just throw hard. Even Nolan Ryan had to learn how to pitch when he lost some Zip!
I don’t think it’s AA’s fault that he’s walking 5+/9.
That sucks a lot, he was going to have a huge 24.
Wow… All the Next Gen First Class Starters are going DOWN. Crazy. They’re over pitching themselves into wrecked arms.
This is why these pitchers have to cash in when they can.
This is why owners won’t give long deals like in the past.
If you get hurt early, in your career, and stay hurt, you are sentenced to the graveyard of potential. The GOP is far too large! They get paid zero, as in early washout status.
Terrible news. ATL still the beast of the east by a country mile
Country mile? Nope, but still the best in the East.
The way the rest of the NL East is playing, yeah, a country mile might be an understatement.
Lol. It’s April. Let’s relax. I agree that the Braves are NLE Kings until proven otherwise, but anyone bragging or giving up in April is foolish.
Been less than two weeks, chief.
Are Braves fans concerned about Max Fried?
You know what they are concerned about? Philly in October.
If by allowing spider tack could reduce injury risk, I’m all for it man
I’m for steroids, spider tack, and anything you have to do to stay on the field and hit bombs and 100mph with max spin. You don’t get paid millions for being normal.
Same here. Nobody cares when football players use them, so why the outrage when baseball players do?
But most fans do not like cheaters!
It’s only cheating if it’s against the rules. If you change the rules, then it isn’t cheating.
Guaranteed money (earned or still owed):
Strider: $78.3 million
Fried: $43 million
Soroka: $14.5 million
Think Strider feel he was “taken advantage of” by signing that early-career extension now?
I don’t think ANY of the players listed feel “taken advantage of”
Nobody thought he was being taken advantage of. What’s your point?
Looks like he won!
Successful gm’s will stack their teams with TJ guys who are good pitchers , sign them for a couple years , have three or four signed every year , so that when your current rotation loses three guys by midsession to TJ , you have fresh quality guys to step in , like the rays will have five guys ready by mid to late season.
Ouch. See you next September.
Bauer. You have to do it. Not even a fan of the guy. But Waldrep’s not quite ready, Smith-Shawver needs more time, and Elder isn’t that dude.
They are businesses, and businesses don’t go out of their way to disgust their customers.
nah, we have plenty of depth in the minors
I’d take Bauer in a heartbeat. Get a jump on him now for next year also…
I banged on AA all off season for sitting on his hands and not going after any of the free agent Starters. No Strider, Fried and Morton 2025 is gonna suck.
Your takes are always awful
Am I wrong? Will those 3 be back in 2025?…And not sure what exactly makes you the all knowing messiah you think you are around here anyways
This could push them to re-sign Max next year.
Not getting any free agent starters…? He had a higher offer to Nola than what he took in PHI, reportedly. You can’t fault him for something out of his control — a player’s preference to stay put. He’s not giving out blank checks to pitchers where they could go down at any moment. Like it or not, AA’s success has been in that out of all the extensions he’s given out to talent, only 1 was to a pitcher (Strider) b/c of the risk associated with SP talent.
I’d much rather have Greinke, Cueto, or Elder/Ion/Ynoa than mess up the team chemistry like that.
They don’t need to sign Bauer, nor do I want them to.
The Strider injury is rough for him, the team, and, to a lesser degree, us as fans. With or without Strider, this is a playoff team. There is enough pitching depth, backed by a strong offense, for 162. Could Atlanta fall behind the Phillies, absolutely. Recent history involving Atlanta and Philadelphia has shown us winning a division isn’t a “must” though.
Bauer = a dark hole added to your team! May not have broken the law, but!
Snit is a hard no against Bauer. Will never happen.
Radar guns….spin rate…high velocity…..Tommy John….repeat….
Got to do what they can to get these hitters out. This ain’t the deadball era, ya know?
Maybe should have stayed away from the curveball.
Does he throw one?
He added a curveball this year in Spring Training. It looked like he threw several in his last game, and not very effectively.
R.I.P.
Are there betting odds for who’ll be the next pitcher to get season ending surgery?
Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober had an uptick in velo this year, so probably one or both of them.
Not sure. Let’s ask Ohtani. (Other poster – He won’t know, he doesn’t bet.)
Let’s ask Ippei! He knows all the bets and odds!
No talking about gambling with Ohtani allowed!
That’s right. He is the “honest golden child” who never lies.
Just like when he said he met with the Dodgers fan who caught his first Dodgers HR ball.
I’m waiting for the press conference where he’ll come out and say she stole the ball from the Dodgers. And he never even knew he hit a HR in that game she was in attendance.
Baseball is in decline. There’s no other way to put it. Hope it can turn itself around.
Baseball has been in decline for decades. It was the number one sport is America hands down and for many the NFL and NBA are #1 and #2 now
If they just keep making the games faster it’ll be OK.
Record revenues and attendance is up. Funny looking decline.
Look at them compared to their competitors.
Movies? Concerts?
NBA ahead of MLB? Please.
Hockey is more popular than baseball at those point.
Hockey has never been popular.
Hockey is only popular where there isn’t a good baseball team.
It peaked in 1980 with that awesome Phillies-Royals World Series. Then the strike happened in 1981 and it has never reached those heights again, at least with TV ratings. Then later the 1994-95 strike happened and they took a big step backwards. But it’s still producing extremely high revenues and good attendance figures today, so baseball has definitely stabilized and is still a top-3 sport.
Hopefully Aroldis Garcia is next with his ACL
Never heard of him
Texas Rangers latest steroid user
How do I give this a thumbs down?
You can’t. Fk the cheaters
Adolis*
Next time try to spell the guy’s name right if you’re going to make false accusations. Not that me and a lot of other people would even care if he was.
NOOOOOOOOO ! Real bummer. Now the conspiracy theorists will say its the curveball causing all the xtra hurt Ps. Having multiple TJS is gonna be a thing now.
I don’t think you know what a conspiracy is.
1984, are you suggesting the CIA didn’t invent the curveball in 1972 in an effort to bring down the national pastime and sow discord amongst the American people in their never ending quest to make us bow down to the whim of the Soviets?
I wonder which vaccine he got
Measles and small pox?
All of them, at least twice.
We know it wasn’t the UCL vaccine.
What’s crazy is that guys (starters at least) are pitching roughly 75% of the innings they did around 2000 but TJs are at an all time high. When are teams going to realize that 95% effort on every pitch is killing guys arms. Very rarely does a team have a guy pitching 200+ innings any more. I love seeing 98+ on the gun with the heater followed by a 91 mph slider on the back foot but something has to give.
TJ’s are not at an all-time high. Not even close.
@ Seamaholic Where are you getting your statistics? This article apparently proves you wrong.
samford.edu/sports-analytics/fans/2018/The-Tommy-J…
And that was 6 years ago.
AMEN !
Must have been an aggressive MRI
Time to acquire a controllable starter. Maybe Phillies would be open to Arcia for Wheeler
Arcia? Surely you jest!!
I believe you accidentally misspelled ‘Acuna’ and ‘Walker’. I’m here to help!
This is real baseball, not fantasy baseball or delusional baseball for that matter.
I wasn’t sure where you were going with this until you added, “for that matter”. Thanks for the clarification.
Can’t believe so many people took this obvious joke for a real trade offer!
Agreed. I should’ve added LOL, OMG, and YOU SO CRAZY! to my retort.
This is part of what makes Bart Harley Jarvis the bad boy of the competition. He’s the most aggressive baby Dr. Skull has ever seen.
I believe this results from having a completely flat back of my head.
Strider was overused in Spring Training. Scratching my head when he started the VERY 1ST GAME of Spring Training…?.WHY.??
Can somebody add up how much $$ being paid out to MLB Pitchers being paid out over IL stints and rehabs???
Max Scherzer, Jacob Degrom, Shohei Ohtani, Gerrit Cole, Shane McClanahan, Sandy Alcantara, Walker Bueller, Eury Perez, and now Shane Bieber and Spencer Strider.
I’m sure I’m missing a lot of names here.
If not including Ohtani, that’s $154,831,333, but when you add in Verlander and Strasburg it is $233,164,666 when it comes to what they will earn this year.
I don’t want to say pitchers are meant to be injured… but… it’s going to happen. For all the ferocity guys throw every pitch now it’s only a matter of time.
This really isn’t new or news.
As a Phillies phan, this sucks. Anytime a great player hits the IL like this AND for that, baseball loses.
@cpdpoet
You mean there is A Phillies fan that is decent. I am shocked.
Your material = old
@cpdpoet
Not really, it is just a fact given the cringeworthy way the Philly fans relentlessly boo Braves players.
@fred. Vonhayes on here is decent.
And the relentless (racist) tomahawk chop is any better than booing an opposing team?
@ayeah
‘Racist’, so you say. “Relentless”…..so you say.
Have you ever been to a Braves game? I guarantee you haven’t, you’re too busy with CNN or CBS, or being indoctrinated with rubbish ideology. I have been to Truist, and there was a black man doing the chop, is he ‘racist? and there was also a man that told me he was from Cherokee descent there and he said he didn’t give a **** by what the determined to be offended crowd who take offence on behalf of others had to say. Cry some more.
Bless your misguided heart, FMcGHR.
See how much you know. I don’t watch any of the propaganda news networks and that’s a FACT!
And the country-wide Native Americans did actually request that the Indian chop chant be stopped.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Braves_tomahawk_ch….
si.com/mlb/2021/10/28/atlanta-braves-tomahawk-chop…
But according to Manfred and Atlanta it is more the Braves and their fans are only interested in how their “own local” Native American’s feel.
“I think it’s important to understand that we have 30 markets in the country,’’ Manfred said. “Not all are the same. The Braves have done a phenomenal job with the Native American community. The Native American community in that region is fully supportive of the Braves’ program, including the chop.”
As for how Native Americans in other communities might feel about the Braves’ nickname and tomahawk chop, Manfred said that in this particular instance, his focus remains on Atlanta.
“We don’t market our game on a nationwide basis. You got to sell tickets every single day to the fans in that market. And there are all sorts of differences between the regions in terms of how the teams are marketed.”
It sure sounds more like a self-centered focus Atlanta fan based and a money hungry greedy MLB commissioner’s only concern.
Not an ideology.
Oh look it’s Fred excusing racism once again. He met a Cherokee man once! But he also knows that Cherokee Nation vociferously opposes the name of the Atlanta team and their chop.
Eighty flaw
You don’t speak for Cherokee Nation you determined to be offended simp. You don’t know me or who I met. This demonstrates that you’re delusional, and patently you’re clueless. Find something else to do than tell your fables here, because you’ve got zero credibility. You speak for no one, and no, the Braves aren’t racist.
Learn what “vociferously” means as well you utter fraud.
That was “you” who said, “ and there was also a man that told me he was from Cherokee descent there and he said he didn’t give a **** by what the determined to be offended crowd who take offence on behalf of others had to say”
Maybe you need to read what you say before trying to show your intellect.
“One” man told you what you wanted to hear, and that made it true for the whole Native Americans beliefs.
No credibility from your comments.
@ayeah
I said Cherokee descent, that does not mean he’s speaking on behalf of a group as you frauds assert, it’s an opinion as opposed to asserting someone from “Cherokee Nation” said something so it represents ALL native Indians. Learn English, and more so, learn comprehension of English..
My point is you spoke to “one” person. So, he is a descent. Who gives him and you the right to be speaking for how all Native Americans feel about the tomahawk chop.
I am German descent. Does that mean whatever I say is how every German feels? Absolutely not.
I see more opposing team fans in Philadelphia at Phillies games than I see Native American fans or opposing team fans at Atlanta Braves games.
Apparently, there ARE more decent Phillies fans than Braves fans.
@ayeah
Can you read and comprehend English? I have my doubts.
“I said Cherokee descent, that does not mean he’s speaking on behalf of a group as you frauds with zero integrity have asserted, it’s an opinion as opposed to asserting someone from “Cherokee Nation” said something so it represents ALL native Indians.”
Don’t you understand? I’ve said quite clearly that I spoke to one person, I haven’t asserted he’s speaking for a whole group like you and others have said, again, read it slowly, I said it’s an opinion-of one person-not of a collective or speaking for everyone.
“Phillies more decent fans than Braves fans”-that’s laughable, the majority of Phillies fans boo Braves players relentlessly, it doesn’t mean that all Phillies fans are bad, but most of them that boo Braves players are cringeworthy, just like your opinion on the Braves as an organisation and tagging Braves fans with the incendiary ‘racist’ tag.
Dusty Baker’s son came home with a tomahawk in his bag after the Braves played one day. Baker played baseball with the great Hank Aaron. Does that make Baker’s son a ‘racist’, because going by your uninformed views it does.
Find something better to do with your time instead of making incendiary remarks about Braves fans and the Atlanta Braves organisation, because your comments & remarks have zero credibility. Go find something else that you can be determined to be offended about.
And how many Phillies games were you at in Philadelphia?
@ayeah,
I get the feeling FMcGHR doesn’t travel too far from home.
@Bart
Unfortunately your feelings are not correct, they’re just your feelings.
Maybe you’re just not allowed to travel far from home.
@Bart
Your allotted screen time for today is over. Ask the duty nurse to return you to your room, and ensure you take your medication, and make sure you have possession of the call button after the nurse has left your room.
Who loves ya, baby?!
If something like this had to happen, then it’s better early than late.
Not really, he will miss almost 2 full seasons as opposed to one if it happened toward the end of the season.
Yes, but it gives the Braves a longer lead time in developing in-season contingencies.
(Sorry, but only Phillies fans will get this reference.)
And who are you nreeves1268? L.A. in disguise?… “Better to fall behind early, it gives you more time to catch up.”
I grew up in the 80’s and it’s safe to say that Tommy John is more popular today than ever! Strider is a great young pitcher and this is terrible news
Meant to say 70’s -80’s
In the 80s, the dreaded injury for pitchers was the rotator cuff. I wonder why we seemingly have very few of them nowadays.
I wonder if it’s possible to strengthen the muscles around the shoulder socket in ways that make rotator cuff injuries less likely. They’re still basically career killers when they happen now.
The UCL is a tendon, and if it snaps, it can be replaced. But it is more delicate than the large muscles around the shoulder.
Rotator cuff was just parlance for what now the shoulder labrum surgery. Having had the surgery I know more about it than I care to. It sucks.
I tore my rotator cuff in 2017 my junior year in HS. I never got to pitch again. But it is funny that you never hear of it in the MLB.
I have to throw like a girl now b/c, since I wasn’t a professional athlete they put it back together thight. Also blew the bicept tendon, and I have a very restrictive range of motion. I can barely get my hand behind my head. It’s fine now that sleeping on it doesn’t disable me for a week anymore.
Spencer Strider ate the spider.
I’m sure pitch clocks has nothing to do with injuries because everyone loves a game that’s five minutes shorter.
And for what? So MLB can add in 5 more minutes of commercials in each half inning break.
Pitch clock rule also mandated less time between innings except for the playoffs. Pace of play is what they call it iirc.
TJ’s peaked long before the pitch clock. This year they have not been particularly numerous.
TJ surgeries have been a problem long before the pitch clock, Seam, but I don’t see any way rushing pitchers into their deliveries isn’t another contributing factor. MLB will deny it, but the pitch clock is the league’s baby.
I’m not entirely against some of the changes the league has made. The pitch clock was a terrible, unnecessary idea that was hastily implemented from the start, though.
His career is likely over. I have a bunch of autographed Strider cards for sale.
Why would his career be over? He should be back by 2026 at the latest.
Guys that have multiple TJ are just never the same.
Nathan Eovaldi on line 1
While I don’t agree “they are never the same” — there’s enough of ’em out there now to actually have some real case studies (i.e. Taillon, Eovaldi, Buehler, Ohtani when he comes back). That being said, even if Strider was “never the same” — he could still be an elite pitcher.
LAD didn’t pay $700M (or $450M present-day) for a DH.
A large portion of the money they paid ohtani (and Yamamoto) was to get into the Japanese market. They’re good players, but the contracts were not all about what they expected them to produce on the field.
Human body was not designed to exert that max effort explosion of force from overhand pitching delivery. Repeadedly. Just a fact, pitchers get broke.
That dang apple
Zack Grienke is available.
Im over 50 and haven’t thrown a pitch with meaning for over 30 years, but I’ll begin stretching exercises as I’m pretty sure some team will need me to join their rotation by July.
Ugh. Terrible. This sport needs to fix whatever is going on with these pitchers. MLB needs some outside medical investigation into why this had become a plague on the sport. You cannot have your best pitchers all falling like dominoes. And whatever they find, solutions need implementation. ASAP. Pitch clock? Can it. Lack of sticky stuff? GET ALL THE GODDAMN STICKY STUFF THEY NEED. Or they can do nothing, and this will continue, and start hurting team’s in attendance. No one wants crappy baseball. MLB needs to be peak.
They literally already initiated a comprehensive study on pitcher injuries
Hard to trust an internal investigation when they have other aspects to consider when trying to turn a profit. An outside investigation would turn out better results.
Such as ? You really think owners want to be paying tens of millions of dollars to players not playing ?
On their list of profit priorities, preventing pitcher injuries has to be much higher than speeding up the game by a few seconds. It’s common sense. Non productive pitchers are costing them millions.
Crazy how many people think the custodians of the game are bumbling fools. If the investigation shows there is a pitch clock correlation, they will ditch it.
There is a term for it – “letting the fox into the hen house”. They are not bumbling idiots, but internally their job is like any corporation – make profits. A couple million is nothing to teams that averaged nearly$400 million in 2023.
External eyes are always better than internal.
TJ injuries are far from their peak, which was in the late teens.
Whoever solves this problem medically will get rich.Iit is getting as common as women getting ACL injuries to their knees in their late teens to early twenties.
Pitchers still got hurt at a pretty decent clip during the sticky stuff/pre pitch clock era. The human elbow isn’t meant to throw a baseball…the only way to fix this is cyborgs.
The solution is Coach Pitch.
That sucks! I feel for Braves fans. At least you’re not the Padres, though. Braves ownership actually cares about their team and will do what they can to contend. Can’t say the same about the current Padres spendthrift, cheap ownership, using Seidlers passing as an excuse not to spend.
Congratulations on bringing the Padres into every unrelated thread.
And to your point, you do realize that 16 teams have a lower payroll than the Padres in 2024? Your acting like it’s 2010 like when they had a bottom 3 payroll.
Woah be me Amiright?
bieber then him :(
Never would have seen that coming…
Fried getting lit up and Strider gone til mid 25. Here comes Trevor Bauer?
“Hide your daughters and wives!”
Dude likes rough sex. He’s not a rapist.
Sad to see it as a Braves fan, but when you model your delivery after Jacob Degrom I feel like you’re asking for trouble.
A 2024 NL East Division win for the Braves isn’t looking too promising…. Strider possibly done for the season and Fried getting shelled again in his second start.
I hope Adolis Garcia tears his ACL
WHY?
Because ckc12537 is a low-life a-hole.
AA got this. Told Braves fans this when Acuna went down. Has enough pitching for regular season. Trade deadline he will do what needs to be done. Unfortunately cost of trading is expensive but they will want that playoff revenue. Hopefully they won’t need to buy a playoff starter.
Phillies fans will miss him
Ugh hope Charlie Morton doesn’t break down
Are you guys seriously surprised? This basically happens with every younger pitcher after their 1st or 2nd full season. If they need to throw 95 and 100 MPH, this is the outcome almost every time. Guys in the 1950s 60s 70s etc would throw 200 pitches every outing and pitch 40 times a year and almost never get injured (because they relied on pitching) not worrying about the speed of the pitch.
Farcical statement. Just a classic case of survivorship bias. You dont remember but a handful of the hundreds of pitchers whose careers ended early because of injury. There were no UCL, rotator cuff, or thoracic outlet repair surgeries.
Survivorship bias, for one.
The other part is they faced a 7-8-9 of 150 lbs middle infielders in the lineup for their defense, plus the pitcher.
They faced maybe two hitters in the lineup they had to really worry about taking them deep. The game has changed as it often does. There are rarely any easy outs anymore.
On average, There’s not a ton of teams right now with more than 2 big power hitters in their lineup that you really have to worry about. The rest of the lineup (on average) is hitting around 220 to 250, with a low slugging percentage and about 10 to 15 HRs After a full season. Pitchers get longer term injuries much more often today (there’s no denying that) if Anthony Rizzo can strike out Freddie freeman, I think pitchers from the 1960s that threw 90 with movement can also do it today.
“On average, There’s not a ton of teams right now with more than 2 big power hitters in their lineup that you really have to worry about.”
It’s amazing that any team can even have one power hitter these days. With the way the umps are calling balls and strikes!
I seen more balls called strikes and strikes called balls this season so far that it’s hard to believe a batter knows what to even swing at anymore.
I know a fairly recent Cy Young winner they can sign for the league minimum…
No. Not a comment on the wisdom of it, it’s just not what the Braves are going to do.
I can see Pittsburgh making an offer in late July if they’re somehow playing .600 ball, but not the thoroughly corporatized, perennially contending Braves.
Still “can” do it.
This has to hurt.
All of a sudden Charlie Morton’s their likeliest #2 (of starters who rate to make it until October, anyway).
40 year old Charlie Morton.
The Braves had better plan to give him a month off. And how are they going to pace Sale in hopes of him making it through the end of the season—three months off?
Wonder if they’re going to miss the half-dozen #6 though #8 starters they shed this offseason.
It’ll be a challenge, but look at the robust AAA rotation with ML experience: Bryce Elder, Ian Anderson (soon), Darius Vines, Winans (called up), Huscar Ynoa, Dylan Dodd, AJ Smith-Shawver (#1 prospect). It’d help if they could piece together 25-30 games started between them. Considering they won 104 with 16 different starters, they’re not in unchartered territory.
@JackStawb: You’re usually very knowledgeable about the Braves, but I’m a bit skeptical about your comment regarding “the half dozen #6 through #8 starters they shed this off season.” Other than Mike Soroka, they didn’t deal a single pitcher that could provide starting depth that’s any better than what they have at AAA and AA right now. Soroka had no options left. W/out an option he couldn’t be trusted to hold down a roster spot over the optionables—-Elder, AJ Smith-Shawver, Darius Vines, Allen Winans, Huascar Ynoa, Dylan Dodd, Hurston Waldrep, and Carlos DeAvila (latter two sent to AA because there’s no room for them in the AAA rotation.) Ian Anderson should also return by late May. They won’t miss Jared Shuster or Marco Gonzales. Shuster was probably their 13th or 14th option. Much better upside on current options than Gonzales who never figured in their pitching plan. He was only acquired so they could add Kelenic. W/the exception of Soroka, dark horses Schwellenbach and Hackenburg had a better chance of starting a game in Atlanta this season than any pitcher they dealt over the winter.
I coach high school. Kids aren’t taught to throw with their shoulder anymore. It’s all the snap of the elbow, which can create more velocity but cap the distance you can throw a ball. Everybody’s got more of a football motion, which is needed for throwing spirals. It doesn’t apply to baseball, though.
It starts in junior high. If a kid (usually a kid big for his age) throws hard and dominates his senior leagues, his parents will take him to a 3rd party pitching instructor entity. He’ll play spring and fall ball. Once he gets into high school, he gets elevated to Varsity and is going up against tougher competition. More pitches get incorporated in the repertoire. He pitches summer ball. From there it’s either college or the draft. He’s 18-22 years old but that elbow is 40.
Reason this is happening now versus before 2000’s… pitch count, cellphones, and other tech that compromises pitcher’s arms/hands/shoulders.
Pitchers are throwing faster, with faster breaking pitches along with what I mentioned above.
As it seems some people are mentioning it (I’m not reading all 200 comments) velo is a big reason, to me, why players are undergoing the knife.
fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&st… This shows us the data from 2002 – 2022 and there’s a sizable increase. Sure Nolan could throw 100 miles an hour and have success, but he was an anomaly. On the other side of it you had Maddux who didn’t throw nearly that hard and he was elite. Heck, Pedro, Schmoltz, Schilling, Hamels, Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, they didn’t throw 100 miles an hour and they were all very successful.
MLB needs to stop putting so much stock into flamethrowing pitchers. Most of them struggle with BB%.
Pitch count is a problem because a lot of people are trying to be a strikeout guy and it’s taking them way too many pitches to get it done. They’re no longer efficient with how to get it done.
Throwing 180 innings used to be considered a number 3 starter; not a number 1. You didn’t need to constantly shuffle relievers between majors and minors because you’ve overused your bullpen.
The game has become a contest between guys throwing as hard as they can against guys swinging as hard as they can. Don’t know if the pendulum will swing back but the game used to be more engrossing.
RIP Tim Wakefield. I really wish we could see more knucklers.
Strider’s condition isnt the only concern…
What the hell is wrong with Fried? 2 awful appearances in a row.
Braves are going to outslug their opponents like last year and have exhausted pitching come October. Rotation could have 3 major holes next year.
Max Fried looks injured and wouldn’t be surprised if he’s next.
The Braves suddenly appear vulnerable don’t they?
Compared to the Doyers? Maybe
Only 15 day IL? Nice. He’ll be back the first qeek of May.
no
Don’t know if this has been suggested.
I would try increasing the mound to 15 inches like pre 1969. Try and deaden the ball as much as possible or within reason. Maybe pitchers will try not to go max out. Spin rate crazy. Pitch more to contact. Go back to the original pitch clock time from last year and add 5 seconds. Although I’ve read that’s just a red herring issue.
Baseball misses pitching battles between the best. When it was two great pitchers going against each other seeing which one could outlast the other was great. Not advocating anything crazy like when Tiana and Ryan went 14? Innings each in 1974 and threw over 150 pitches. Just watching each starter go against each other and if your team knocks the ace out of the box it was even better to watch.
L
Of course. The path is now clear for the scumbag Dodgers.
Phillies fan here… and that sucks! But injuries happen… takes a lot of skill, luck and great health to win a World Series.
It’s the pitch clock causing all these injuries. Manfred needs to get rid of it ASAP!!!
Have a good listen to what Glasnow has to say about gripping the ball.
youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ed9QbHGkFYE
It’s high velocity. Of the 15 starters who averaged the highest velo on fastballs since 2021, 10 have had TJ surgery. The ones without TJ include Garret Cole who is having elbow issues now and Brandon Woodruff who has injured his shoulder. Lastly, one of the 3 remaining healthy pitchers on the hard throwing list is Grayson Rodriguez who hasnt pitched a full season at the mlb level yet.
The issue with velo being the culprit is that someone in AAA will risk injury to get a big league check so if you arent throwing max effort you are falling behind.
blogs.fangraphs.com/more-ucl-tears-prompt-pointed-…
Wait why is allan winans recalled? Bryce elder was an AS last yr
No reason he should have been sent down to begin with. Now he’s not taking strider’s spot?? Makes no sense