So apparently, the rumors of Spencer Strider’s baseball demise for 2026 may have been somewhat exaggerated. Right before the trade deadline, there was “scuttlebutt” from MLB.com Braves beat writer Mark Bowman that Spencer Strider had cleared out his locker room and was likely done for the season.
However, during today’s pregame press conference, Walt Weiss indicated that Strider may not be done for 2026 after all. When Weiss was asked for updates on various pitchers who are currently on the shelf,
he shocked the room by casually including Strider in those updates as well.
Weiss had no updates as far as Robert Suarez goes and maintained that Spencer Schwellenbach had a way to go before returning from his throwing program. Weiss did mention that Hurston Waldrep had a “good report” once he got a second opinion on his throwing arm and then mentioned that both he and Strider would be starting up throwing programs soon.
“There was a possibility that he could’ve been out for the year,” explained Weiss. “It’s tough to put timelines out there because things just change. Their progression changes day to day — it’s never linear.” Weiss went on to explain that apparently it was just down to Strider himself noticing that he was feeling somewhat better than expected. “He’s feeling good, the tests are positive and when that happens you get to the next step where it’s ‘Let’s start throwing again,’ so he’s felt good enough to do that,” stated Weiss.
With that being said, it’s still pretty tough to imagine Spencer Strider coming back and having a major impact on the rotation here in 2026 and Weiss mentioned as much while continuing to give his thoughts on the situation. “There’s a big leap between starting a throwing progression and throwing on a major league mound,” explained Weiss. “There’s a lot to uncover but at least he’s starting to throw again.”
There’s already a prime example of just how long a throwing program can take — after all, it sure seems like Spencer Schwellenbach has been on a throwing program for what feels like half of the season so far. I’d imagine that it’s still doubtful that we’ll see Strider pitch in a big league game again in 2026 and if he does, I anticipate it being out of the bullpen. But for now, don’t close the door on Strider returning because apparently the Braves themselves still think he might have something to contribute here in 2026.
Meanwhile, BravesVision analyst Paul Byrd tried to get the skinny on the confusion that occurred on Saturday (and bled into Sunday) when it came to Chris Sale and that contentious balk call. Weiss stated that he was still just as confused as ever with what happened out there, despite having a conversation with crew chief Dan Bellino.
“This is not something that we have ever done. Chris Sale has never done this in his career; declaring from hitter-to-hitter. That’s never been a thing. You declare once and that’s it,” stated Weiss. “Now, if you’re going to go back to the stretch then you have to redeclare but he’s never had to declare from hitter-to-hitter — you declare one time.”
“So I don’t know where that came from,” continued Weiss. “I don’t know if the league is cracking down on it. […] If this is something that we’re cracking down on […] then that’s a conversation at the home plate meeting or a heads up. I haven’t heard anything about cracking down on it — it’s news to me! Usually there’s a memo that goes around at the very least. We’ve never dealt with this before and we didn’t even know what the heck was going on when the balk was called. I think there needs to be clarity.
“My conversation with Bellino is that he’s going to have to declare every hitter moving forward,” said Weiss as he continued to discuss the weird situation. “If that’s the case, then let me know and let Chris know. We’ve dealt with a lot of changes — not that this is a rule change. We’ve dealt with having to adjust with pitch clocks and throw-overs and we do it seamlessly because these guys adapt very well. If that’s the case then we need to know that. I think we’ll get to the bottom of it soon. It was a weird chain of events there and I’ve never dealt with that before.”
So yeah, there are still some feelings of contention between the Braves and that particular umpiring crew but for now, the Braves appear to be prepared to deal with it, adjust and move on. That should be the end of what was a wacky saga that somehow turned into a two-day affair (and now three since here we are, talking about it).
