April 16: Strider has been activated ahead of his start against the Blue Jays this afternoon, per a team announcement. Right-hander Zach Thompson was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.
April 13: Prior to today’s game against the Rays, the Braves announced that the club had optioned right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver to the minor leagues. In the short-term, the move made room for righty Michael Petersen to join the club. More important than that move, however, is the impending shift in the rotation Smith-Shawver’s departure portends. As noted by multiple reporters, including David O’Brien of The Athletic, Smith-Shawver’s departure from the active roster will make way for the highly-anticipated return of right-hander Spencer Strider to the rotation on April 16 against the Blue Jays in Toronto.
Strider, 26, hasn’t pitched in just over a year after undergoing internal brace surgery on his UCL early last season. The right-hander has just two full MLB seasons under his belt, in 2022 and ’23, 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’s rotation once again now that he’s healthy. It couldn’t 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 Reynaldo Lopez for much of the 2025 season to shoulder surgery and has seen reigning NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale scuffle to a 6.63 ERA in 19 innings of work across his first four starts this season.
Strider’s long-awaited return to the big league mound means the end of Smith-Shawver’s 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’s 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 Bryce Elder in the rotation despite his ugly 7.20 ERA in two starts against the Dodgers and Rays. That leaves Elder to pair with Grant Holmes at the back of the club’s rotation for the time being, though Smith-Shawver, Hurston Waldrep, and Dylan Dodd all remain available at Triple-A as potential rotation options if Elder fails to improve.
Strider may not be the only reinforcement the Braves are getting from Triple-A this week. O’Brien suggests that “all signs are pointing to” an impending call-up for outfielder Alex Verdugo, 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’s possible he would’ve spent the entire month of April at Triple-A, but things changed when Jurickson Profar was suspended for 80-games due to a failed PED test. That’s left the Braves to try and get by with Jarred Kelenic, Stuart Fairchild, and Bryan De La Cruz in the outfield corners while Ronald Acuna Jr. heals up after suffering a torn ACL last May.
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’Brien indicates that Verdugo’s return to the majors appears to be imminent.
Good news for the Braves. They’ve needed it.
Yeah, it’s been a rough start for them.
Good, now we got 2 guys who can pitch.
It won’t help the team win unless they
De-Activate Brian Snitker! The man doesn’t
know how to handle the bullpen or make out the batting order! Today, he put in a Righty pitcher to face a lefty batter just because he had struck the batter out (3) years ago. At least that was the explanation of the announcers! Snitker was responsible for at least 20-25 losses in 2024 by continually putting in the wrong relievers! He would put in a lefty, after having a lefty Starter just leave the game with 6 righty batters due up in a row! He’s just plain stupid!
I know I will get flack from Braves fans, but it is what it is! They need to make a change, and you can’t blame injuries for the manager being stupid!
You are permitted to use periods on this site.
OK. Snitker needs to go. Period.
LOL!
20-25 losses!?
So in 2023 with a different manager they would’ve won 124-129 games. Not bad.
Sure, and if they had less injuries, they’d have been 162-0. It reminds me the year the RS got off to a great start, and the idiot Tito-haters claimed he was responsible for virtually every loss.
Just because the announcers mentioned that he had struck him out in one plate appearance in the past doesn’t mean that’s why Snitker put him in. You are misinterpreting what was said. I saw it. I know what you are talking about. He does make questionable decisions with the bullpen but he brought in arguably their best reliever to date (before today). Hindsight is always 20/20. He took Johnson out because he’s not that good, he threw 26 pitches in 1 1/3, and has pitched a ton lately.
He is possibly retiring at seasons end.
Another thing braves do not fire coaches during the season.
The only person was Freddie Gonzalez
Yeah there’s a less than zero chance the Braves would fire a World Seried winning lifer during the year. He will retire.
@Bravesraider — true, but they’ve had 3 managers in 35 years and one of the two they fired in-season for a .500 average. I’d take those odds.
In order to deactivate him, wouldn’t he need to be activated first? Snitker is like a bump on a log.
I didnt like Snitker when I was following the Braves, Id listen to him in the pregame and postgame reports, they’d interview him every post game on the radio. His approach is very ho hum, Id say to his credit that he is very level headed, but fails to inspire a lot of enthusiasm. Schwellenbach is the teams leader in a sense, he took that role last season. Strider and Schwellenbach can carry this team to midsummer, possible return of Lopez, Acuna and Profar. Sure would be nice if Sale had another good season in that arm, and a Sean Murphy reemergence is much needed
Better bullpen management may have costed the Braves games last year, but I don’t think it was the difference between a ~90 win team and a ~110 win team.
Adding Strider to the rotation is great, but keeping Elder in is a huge mistake. His starts are virtually guaranteed to mean a Braves’ loss. The Braves have a big need for one of their young starters in the minors to step up asap.
Honestly he’s kept them in both games (the first was LAD after all). He pitched fairly well but the bullpen has been taxed and they tried to stretch him out another inning. Smith-Shawver is not ready. He is lost on the mound. You cannot rely on him to give you enough innings (the bullpen was up in the 3rd whereas Elder was at 19 pitches in the 3rd inning). S.S. pitched poorly but was lucky. If the offense could do something to support the pitchers it wouldn’t be as crucial to keep the other team at 2 runs or less every game. When you are throwing out Elder it would be good to put up a few runs (some breathing room) and to not be relying on him to save the pen. As a 5th starter he can do okay. He is efficient. This offense is supposed to be good. Last year he was obviously trying to increase his K rate which was a bad idea. He said he went back to what he usually does and the team said they liked his stuff in spring. He’s not gonna be great but it’s a #5 starter. Score some runs.
I’m sorry but I have to agree. Smith-Shaving Cream looks completely lost, at times when on the mound, he will appear as if he is sniffing out a roast beef sandwich, or perhaps even a cheese fry he accidentally buried with his shoes. The point is, he needs to get sent back down, maybe even re-learn his ABCs while he’s at it.
Elder on the other hand looks as if he is in the wrong sport entirely, there are days when he wakes up and appears hungover, and not from alcohol but a good 16 oz. of Nyquil, in addition to some bizarre combination of Rogaine and Estrogen. Only he’s not trying to hide PEDs, he simply is addicted to estrogen. He’s out of here too, imo.
I appreciate some reinforcements, but the ‘pen is already taxed and lifeless, while late-signing Kimbrel isn’t ready, and Verdugo awaits to hopefully put either Kelenic/de la Cruz on the bench for a prolonged period of time. How many lives does Kelenic have? Is he dating AA’s daughter? The offense is consistently inconsistent like much of last year. Acuña can’t arrive soon enough. The see-saw of Harris going from leadoff to 6-hole based on SP is exhausting.
Kelenic is a lefty with some pop and good defense and speed. If he was a righty, he would be in the minors right now
‘good defense and speed’ is quite forgiving. All that to say he’s a neg WAR player with a 52 OPS+…and that’s with ‘pop’, folks. The dynamic duo Jarred de la Cruz has a combined -0.6 bWAR impact on the game. Yes, you and me are more impactful not suiting up than these 2 right now.
W/regard to AJSS being optioned, the article failed to consider that the Braves probably won’t need a 5th starter for the next 3 weeks because of the scheduled off days. Braves brass likely believes that for AJSS shouldn’t miss 3 weeks of starts. They optioned him so he could stay on schedule in Gwinnett’s rotation. When Strider returns, Elder will be optioned. If not, Braves might try him in the pen and dfa Suarez or De La Santos. Probable that AJSS resumes the 5th starter role. Doubt that Elder gets more starts unless there’s a health issue in the rotation. Strider/Schwellenbach/Sale/Holmes/AJSS (in 3 weeks) going forward with Waldrep, Davis Daniel, and Hackenburg as the most likely 3 next depth pieces.
The Braves aren’t going with a four man rotation with a guy coming off of elbow surgery.
@Mets: As usual you don’t know what you’re talking about. The off days work out perfectly for the next 3 weeks. 4 starters are all they need during that time. I didn’t say they’d be using a 4 man rotation for the rest of the season. You’re too busy trolling to get that though.
I absolutely know what I’m talking about. You have no clue about baseball if you think there’s any chance the Braves use four starters for the next three weeks.
@NashvilleJeff, they will not be able to go with a 4-man rotation. They will still need a 5th starter. Now the 5th started could be used in spot starts instead of a regular roation.
After today they have a day off. Then they play 6 days in a row. They could keep everyone on 5 days rest and use Elder to spot start over the next 3 weeks.
However, with Strider coming off surgery and Sale struggling I imagine they will stick with a 5 man rotation and just give everyone the extra day rest much like they did last year.
Agreed
you have 6 games in a row from the 18th to the 23rd. so they going on short rest for 2 of the games?
Maybe. If not, they’ll probably throw a pen game.
you mean the pen that they seem to pretty regularly using 4 or more guys out of and releasing and resigning chavez so they have an arm available for?
Guess they shouldnt consider holmes and sale cant seem to make it past 5 innings and just getting a guy coming back from major surgery and rehab to start immediately with a full load.
My guess is peterson gets his cup and heads right back down when its striders spot in the rotation. They didnt even mention him in the article above at all other than he is the guy coming up. They will use him for a couple of innings to give the bullpen a slight reprieve then option him down. They dont need the 40 man spot since strider is already on there.
Peterson got sent back down because Bummer was reinstated from the bereavement list. Had nothing to do w/Strider. Elder probably goes down when Strider returns. If not, maybe one of Suarez/DeLa Santos are dfa candidates w/Elder moving to the pen.
interesting … so they move elder to the bullpen and start a bullpen game with elder being the bullpen starter then? I guess in some circles that does count as a 4 man rotation. I guess that means they are actually using a 3 man rotation with Sale really coming out of the bullpen then?
Schwellenbach, Strider, Sale (he will figure it out), Holmes, and….hope for rain until Lopez is back. AA really fumbled by not signing a SP.
Perfect time for AJSS to learn while holding down the 5th spot.
The Braves are likely staying under the cap this year.
Who should he have overpaid?
Good for him. Not like it really matters, though.
With him returning with the UCL internal brace surgery, it makes Strider a rare case study in modern arm repair. A generational talent getting back to the mound faster than previous eras would’ve allowed.
You mean similar to jacob degrom and shohei ohtani who both had the same surgery…id point out lucas giolito but ohtani.and degrom fit your generational talent point..so we should technically be studying all 4 guys..since one could argue strider is 3rd on the list
@Poolhalljunkies
Strider is particularly compelling because of his youth, high-velocity four-seam dependency, and extreme strikeout rate—he’s almost a stress test for the internal brace approach.
Strider should in no way be viewed as a stress test, standard, or benchmark for internal brace surgery. This is his 2nd major elbow repair, so he has other factors attributing to the success of this surgery. He has x amount of scar tissue plus possibly some degree of numbness or blood vessel damage from his TJS.
Any player who is going to be viewed as an example for internal brace surgery should be someone who has only had that. Once a player has already had a major surgery for the same part of body that have to be viewed on a case by case basis due to the inconsistent variables left from the first surgery.
It could be worse. They could have re-signed Charlie Morton.
Props to Michael Petersen, someone most of us had not anticipated, for giving the pen two solid innings.
Quicker than usual recovery!
Kelenic this, Cruz that, Arcia this, Allen that, but everyone fails to mention that Albies, Harris, and Olson are terrible as well, especially the former two. The whole lineup needs an overhaul. It is not a ‘25 thing, it’s the postseason of ‘23 thing all the way through this season. The team plain out sucks. Once they can admit this concept, change will be made.
Olsen has gotten very unlucky if you look at his baseball savant page you will see that he should be doing a lot better albies is hitting homers and you are great fairweather fan.
Yeesh, Braves fans are harsh. We’re only three weeks in folks.
As a Braves hater, I fully expect the Braves to be over .500 by the end of May.
Verdugo hasn’t exactly been lighting it up in AAA. Entire Braves OF has been a disaster. The Kelenic/DLC experiment has been awful. They are combined -0.5 WAR and MHII seems like a watered down version of jason heyward. Regressing every year. With no OF depth in the minors….I really hope they draft differently next few years.
Spencer Strider = just picked up a new pair of those at the Shoe Store !!
Bassitt outdueled Strider with a 5IP / 3H / 10K outing, Bassitt off to a real good start. Like to see the Blue Jays managing his pitch count and innings, could have easily had him out in the 6th but relied on the bullpen to bring it home.
What is funny is how bad the braves are at offense right now. I do know it is early but all of them look quite bewildered at the plate. As much as I do not put too much stock in a hitting coach it is funny, that they fire Kevin Seizter for no real reason (forgive me if I misspelled the name) and the next upcoming season they are horrible.
people can say what they want but snitker is the issue and is a horrible mlb coach… he should stuck in minors where his strength is player development… his bp management is atrocious…… our hitting cant hit water if they fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean.. huge start for stride and nothing but good things from him the rest of the year