After a rocky 2026 season debut, Atlanta Braves righthander and former Clemson standout Spencer Strider is slated to make his second start of the season on Saturday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Strider made his first appearance of the 2026 campaign last Sunday against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Though Strider was glad to be back on a big-league mound after starting the year on the injured list, he certainly wasn’t happy with his performance.
Making his return from a left oblique strain he suffered during spring training that kept him out of action the first month of the season, Strider experienced some good and some bad in Sunday’s start against the Rockies, allowing three earned runs on four hits, including one home run, while walking five batters and striking out six over 3.1 innings.
Strider holds himself to a high standard as a former All-Star and Cy Young contender, so he wasn’t pleased with the results in his first start overall and was very candid in his assessment of the outing.
“I’d rather be pitching than hurt, for sure, but I don’t want a participation trophy,” Strider said, via MLB.com. “I’m here to help the team win games. I’m getting paid a ridiculous amount of money to do it, and if I can’t, then that’s a problem. So let’s find a way to be more effective than I was today. [I’ve] got a lot of work to do.”
Strider got a no-decision in the game the Braves would go on to win, 11-6, but he struggled with his control in the limited outing. Of the 87 pitches he threw, only 48 were strikes, and he tied his career-high for walks but still managed to post a good number of strikeouts.
“Stuff was good, didn’t throw strikes — it was that simple,” Strider added. “You’re throwing what you can land, but if you can’t challenge guys in the strike zone, you can’t be very effective, hard to get ahead.”
Even though it wasn’t the type of showing Strider expects of himself, the Braves are still happy to have him back in the rotation after an extended absence and hope he can eventually regain his ace form.
First pitch for Strider’s scheduled start against the Dodgers on Saturday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles is set for 9:10 p.m. ET.
The oblique injury in spring training marked the latest injury setback for Strider, who underwent season-ending surgery in 2024 to repair the damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He returned to make his 2025 season debut on April 16 against the Toronto Blue Jays, but shortly after that start, he suffered a right hamstring strain that caused him to hit the injured list on April 21. He later returned to the mound on May 20.
Overall, in 23 starts last season, Strider went 7-14 and pitched to a 4.45 ERA with a 1.40 WHIP while striking out 131 batters over 125.1 innings.
Prior to his season-ending injury in 2024, Strider was an All-Star in 2023, when he led the majors in both wins and strikeouts. That season, he racked up 281 strikeouts while posting a 20-5 record, 3.86 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and allowing only 146 hits in 186.2 innings over 32 starts. He finished fourth in the 2023 NL Cy Young voting.
Strider, who was drafted by the Braves in the fourth round (No. 126 overall pick) of the 2020 MLB Draft, has compiled a 39-24 record, 3.77 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 632 strikeouts in 458.1 innings across 91 career regular season games (78 starts).