Former Tiger to Begin MLB Season on Injured List
By: Gavin Oliver March 23, 2026

Some bad news for former Clemson pitcher Spencer Strider and his Atlanta Braves team.

Strider will start the 2026 season on the injured list with an oblique strain, Braves manager Walt Weiss said Monday.

While the Braves haven’t given a formal return timeline for Strider, Weiss expressed hope that the righthander would only miss a couple of weeks.

Strider was scratched from his final spring training start on Monday. He suffered a similar oblique issue in late 2022, which sidelined him for the final few weeks of the regular season.

“l think we’ve gotten out in front of this thing to a degree,” Weiss said, via MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. “So we’re hoping it’s not going to be a big deal.”

Clemson pitcher Spencer Strider pitches against South Carolina on Sunday, March 1, 2020 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C. (Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider)

Strider made three appearances during 2026 spring training, posting a 3.24 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with 11 strikeouts in 8.1 innings pitched.

After undergoing season-ending surgery in 2024 to repair the damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, Strider returned to make his 2025 season debut on April 16 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately, 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. The Braves are hoping he can get over his latest setback with the oblique and eventually regain the form that made him an All-Star and Cy Young contender back in 2023.

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, 3.74 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 626 strikeouts in 455.0 innings across 90 career regular season games (77 starts).