Atlanta Braves right-hander Spencer Strider will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery Friday to repair the damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. But the type of procedure he underwent, an internal brace operation, means Strider could return sooner than if he had Tommy John surgery.
Recovery from internal brace surgery typically lasts about 12 months for pitchers, compared to 14 to 16 months for most people who have had Tommy John surgery. Additionally, this 14-16 month time frame is typically longer for pitchers returning from a second Tommy John surgery. Strider underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019 while at Clemson.
Barring any setbacks, the hope is that Strider could return at or near the start of the 2025 season. The Braves are not specifying a timetable for his return, except that he will miss the remainder of the 2024 season.
The internal bracing procedure is relatively new and Dr. Keith Meister, who operated on Strider, is one of the leading specialists in this field. Some major league pitchers are not good candidates for internal brace surgery, depending on the extent of damage to the UCL and the patient.
Strider, 25, likely would have been out until at least the middle of the 2025 season if he had undergone Tommy John surgery instead of an internal brace. In some cases, the less invasive internal bracing procedure has become preferable to a second Tommy John surgery for pitchers, in terms of long-term throwing and overall arm health for many years.
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Losing Strider, the MLB leader in wins and strikeouts in 2023, is a big blow for the Braves. They anticipated he would need season-ending surgery after a team doctor reviewed an MRI of Strider’s elbow a week ago, the day after he struggled during his start on the 5th. April against the Arizona Diamondbacks and complained of elbow pain after leaving the game.
The team did not specify the extent of damage to the UCL, but internal bracing procedures are more common in patients with partial rather than complete ligament tears. Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito opted for internal brace surgery in March after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2012.
Regardless, Strider is out for the season and the Braves will use multiple pitchers to fill his spot in the rotation, unless and until one of the pitchers outperforms the others and wins the job. The Braves like their depth, including Bryce Elder, a 2023 All-Star in his first full season before fading badly in the second half of the year.
Others expected to make one or more starts at a rotating fifth spot for now include Allan Winans, who allowed six earned runs in the first three innings of his season debut Thursday, and Darius Vines, who was recalled from Triple A Friday after Winans was optioned following his departure.
Unless Vines needs lengthy relief over the next two days, he is likely to make the next start in what would have been Strider’s turn Tuesday against the Houston Astros.
Other players include left-hander Dylan Dodd, top prospects AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep, as well as Huascar Ynoa, who missed the entire 2023 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The most accomplished of the possible rotation candidates is Ian Anderson, who is expected to return around midseason after recovering from Tommy John surgery in April 2023.
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With Strider out, each of the other four members of the Braves’ rotation effectively moved up one spot, with Max Fried becoming the No. 1 starter, offseason trade addition Chris Sale moving to No. 2, and Charlie Morton and Reynaldo, star of the start of the season. López, another offseason addition via free agency, moving from fifth place to fourth place.
The Braves could look outside the organization for another accomplished starting pitcher, if necessary. But first they will see how their internal candidates perform. For now, the six-time defending National League East champions and first-place Braves believe their powerful offense and deep bullpen will help ensure the team continues to win at a high rate.
Additionally, it’s too early in the season to pursue a trade for an established major league pitcher, as teams aren’t inclined to give up on good guys so early – especially in an era where the expanded playoff format gives hope to more teams and allows them to succeed. It’s harder for teams to justify to their fans their abandonment of the season by trading a good starting pitcher.
No matter who fills the role for the remainder of the season, it will be a takedown of Strider, arguably the most dominant young pitcher in the major leagues. A fourth-round pick in 2020, he reached the majors after just 22 minor league games and led MLB in strikeouts and strikeout rate over his first two full seasons in 2022-23, going 32-10 with a 3.47 ERA in 67 games. including 54 starts, with a superb 495 strikeouts in 329 2/3 innings.
Strider had 12 strikeouts in nine innings in two starts this season and was just five strikeouts away from becoming the fastest pitcher to 500 career strikeouts in MLB history among those who were primarily rookie pitchers.
A finalist for 2022 NL Rookie of the Year, Strider signed a six-year contract extension worth $75 million ahead of the 2022 playoffs, by far the longest and longest contract lucrative for the Braves to give such a young pitcher and the first such contract general manager and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos had given in his career to a pitcher with only one year of MLB service.
But, as Anthopoulos said, he had never had a young pitcher with such a tremendous combination of talent, potential, work ethic and mental capacity as Strider.
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(Photo: Bill Streicher / USA Today)