Strider Set to Make 2026 Debut
By: Gavin Oliver May 1, 2026

Former Clemson pitcher Spencer Strider looks ready to return to the Atlanta Braves’ rotation.

Strider is expected to make his 2026 season debut on Sunday.

Braves manager Walt Weiss told reporters that Strider is scheduled to start Sunday’s game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Strider has been on the injured list with a left oblique strain he suffered during spring training, keeping him out of action the first month of the season.

The right-hander threw 82 pitches over five innings for Triple-A Gwinnett in his third and final minor-league rehab start on Sunday, April 26. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reported that Strider averaged 95 mph with his four-seam fastball during his final rehab start, showing he is ready to return to a big-league mound.

Adding Strider should provide another boost to a Braves pitching staff that already came into this weekend’s series against the Rockies with the second-best ERA (3.12) in Major League Baseball, despite missing key members of their rotation, including Strider. Atlanta entered this weekend’s series against Colorado with the best record in the majors at 22-10.

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

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. The Braves are hoping he can 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).