There Are Alternatives For The Atlanta Braves To Replace Spencer Strider
Major League Baseball’s elbow epidemic has claimed the life of Atlanta Braves star Spencer Strider. He will not need a second Tommy John surgery, but he will miss the rest of the 2024 season due to an internal brace implantation operation.
One of baseball’s most dominant pitchers the previous season was Strider. With 20 victories and 281 strikeouts, he led MLB. With a 2.85 FIP, he led the National League and had a strikeout percentage of 36.8%, which was 5.3 points higher than any other qualified starting pitcher in the game. He was a popular choice to win the Cy Young Award this year at the age of 25, but after only two starts, he experienced elbow soreness. It is now the end of his season.
While pitching for Clemson in 2019, he had Tommy John surgery for the first time. He studied how great pitchers get ready to throw hard and gained a deeper understanding of the mental aspect of the game as a result of the experience. After being selected, this allowed him to improve his breaking ball’s sharpness and velocity, and he became one of the league’s top pitchers.
What he will look like upon his return the next year is still unknown. As they attempt to win 100 games for the third straight season, the Braves are missing their greatest pitcher. Right now, FanGraphs’ Roster Resource only includes Max Fried, Reynaldo López, Charlie Morton, and Chris Sale as the team’s four starting pitchers. López is a converted reliever, Fried, Sale, and Morton are all beyond 40 years old, and they have all experienced recent injury problems. To make it through the season, the team will probably need to add more pitching from the lower leagues and maybe through trade.
