Lost in the shuffle of everything that happened before, during and after Saturday night’s win for the Braves over the Nationals, we got a little bit of a serious update that was buried near the end of a Mark Bowman tweet from during last night’s game.
While Bowman was laying out what Atlanta’s starting pitching options currently look like, he noted that Spencer Strider might very well be done for the 2026 season.
Now, there have been rumors (or scuttlebutt, even, as Bowman himself described it as a few days ago) for a while that whatever was ailing Spencer Strider was enough to where it didn’t seem likely that the right-hander would be back in action any time soon and the fact that his locker has been cleared out seems to confirm that he likely won’t be coming back any time soon.
If so, then so ends another frustratingly injury-plagued season for Strider ever since having internal brace surgery on his throwing elbow back in April 2024. Strider was only able to pitch 39 innings this season where he ended up with an ERA of 5.31 (126 ERA-) and a FIP of 5.36 (129 FIP-) — a far cry from the numbers he was putting up in 2023 when he was one of the most electric pitchers in baseball at the time.
Ever since the surgery, he’s been trying to figure out a new way to pitch and adjust to what his arm is capable of throwing and unfortunately, injuries have played a big role in tripping Strider up and stunting any progress that he can make. Assuming he doesn’t come back this season, this is yet another stumbling block for Strider and really unfortunate considering all the effort that’s gone into making his way back from the injury.
Meanwhile, the point that Bowman was ultimately trying to address in that linked post is clear: The Atlanta Braves need starting pitching help. There are far more question marks than answers when it comes to the starting rotation and heroics from Martín Pérez aside, that is not what you want to have to choose from when it comes t a Postseason roster and any type of playoff series rotation. The Braves absolutely have to address their starting rotation, especially now that they likely won’t have Strider to rely on going forward in 2026.
