The Atlanta Braves have had an absolutely putrid start to the 2025 season. Atlanta started the season 0-7, and things haven't gotten much better since.
Starter Reynaldo Lopez is out due to shoulder surgery, Jurickson Profar was suspended for half of the season, and they've yet to win back-to-back games.
It's too early to say the season is a bust for the Braves, but fans are right to be concerned with the state of the organization. However, there was finally something positive to look forward to as Spencer Strider returned from his rehab assignment.
Strider missed almost an entire year recovering from a UCL injury, but luckily, a brace procedure got him back into action sooner than Tommy John surgery would have. Prior to his first MLB start of 2025, he had been extremely dominant in his rehab outings with Atlanta's Triple-A affiliate.
The Braves' ace collected 27 strikeouts over 13.2 innings with the Stripers. More impressively, he only walked five batters during that span as well. He looked locked in and ready to return to dominate big league bats.
Spencer Strider impresses in season debut for Braves, reaching an impressive career milestone
His start was pretty impressive on April 17 against the Blue Jays. It wasn't the most dominant showing, but no one expected him to come out throwing a no-hitter in his first MLB appearance in over a year.
Strider allowed two runs through five innings with one walk and five strikeouts. His fastball velocity sat between 95-97, a couple of ticks down from his peak, which is expected when returning from an elbow injury. He did touch 98 mph in the first inning a couple of times, however.
Atlanta's flamethrower reached an impressive milestone with his fifth and final strikeout of the day. He now has 500 career strikeouts and is the fastest MLB pitcher to reach that mark.
Spencer Strider reached 500 strikeouts in 334 IP!
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 16, 2025
That’s the fewest innings to 500 K of any pitcher who started in at least 50% of his app by the time of his 500th strikeout
h/t @EliasSports https://t.co/nfTrzAeIAP
He only needed 334 innings to reach that number of punch-outs. MLB insider Sarah Langs reported this was ahead of five notable starting pitchers who accomplished the same feat:
- Freddy Peralta: 372 IP
- Shohei Ohtani: 388 2/3 IP
- Tyler Glasnow: 398 1/3 IP
- Dylan Cease: 399 1/3 IP
- Jose Fernandez: 400 IP
Strider could reach the 700 strikeout mark once the season ends, as he's averaged 200-plus strikeouts in each full season pitched. In 2023, Strider was 19 strikeouts shy of reaching 300 in a single season. This mark has only been reached 38 times in MLB history (since 1900), and only five pitchers have done so in the last 20 years.
Getting him back is a huge boost for the Braves. Unfortunately, the offense did nothing to support Strider's outing as they struck out 19 times against Toronto in a 3-1 loss. Atlanta was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, an area they've struggled heavily in this season.
This gave Strider his first loss of the season, and Atlanta dropped to a paltry 5-13.
Ronald Acuña Jr. was recently cleared to ramp up activities like stopping/cutting and running full speed. He will begin a rehab assignment in the coming weeks and hopefully return by mid-May.
That's something to look forward to, but even with his pending return, things look bleak for the Braves early on. Strider will try and do his part to make sure the team has a shot to win each time he's on the mound.