ATLANTA -- Spencer Strider took another step toward returning to the Braves rotation when he threw a bullpen session before the club’s three-game winning streak ended with a 4-3 loss to the Reds on Wednesday night at Truist Park.
Prior to Thursday’s series finale with the Reds, Strider spoke about throwing off a mound for the first time since he strained his right hamstring while playing catch on April 21.
“I feel great,” Strider said. “The bullpen was good. We were able to keep throwing throughout this process, which was good. I made some modifications. I was just throwing from a knee and different things. With the pulse monitor, that band I wear, it’s very easy to monitor workload and handle things like that. It was good to keep the floor high. I think that’ll make the next part of the process a lot easier.”
As far as next steps, Strider will throw another bullpen session on Saturday in Pittsburgh.
“I, for better or worse, feel ready to go,” Strider said. “It’s probably fortunate that it’s not in my hands entirely. We’re [going to] throw a bullpen on Saturday in Pittsburgh and kind of make a decision from there as to what we do next. Having kept throwing, I think that makes things a little bit easier to map out. [We have to] take it day by day. I’ve been instructed that that’s the right thing to do.”
Strider had an internal brace inserted in his right elbow to repair a compromised ulnar collateral ligament on April 18, 2024. He rejoined Atlanta’s rotation two days shy of the one-year anniversary of this procedure. All seemed right when he limited the Blue Jays to two runs over five innings on April 16.
But he suffered a Grade 1 (the least significant) hamstring strain while playing catch the day before his second scheduled start.
Strider said he trusts the Braves’ medical staff to make decisions moving forward, as he has over the last year-plus.
Neither Strider nor Braves manager Brian Snitker indicated whether Strider would need a rehabilitation start in Triple-A before making his return to Atlanta’s rotation.
“That’s something we’ll probably talk about and see,” Snitker said. “He’ll do [Saturday’s bullpen] and we kind of have a tentative plan and [we'll] just see how he comes out of Saturday. That will all be determined.”
“In my perfect world we wouldn’t be throwing another bullpen,” Strider said. “That’s probably a good thing that I’m not making the decisions. I feel bad taking another five minutes, let alone another week or two weeks. I need to let the people who are more capable of making that plan have that control and do what I can within those parameters on a daily basis.”
Strider’s return could be a significant boost for the Braves, who squandered a chance to even their record in what was their 36th game on Wednesday. They are bidding to become just the fifth team to go from 0-7 to a .500 record at some point in the same season. The 1945 Red Sox did so in the fewest games, first reaching .500 in their 46th game.
“We were really excited three weeks ago when we got him back out there and we were looking forward to his next start,” Snitker said. “It’ll be good to get him back and get some starts under his belt.”
Strider led MLB with 483 strikeouts from 2022-23. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole ranked second with 479 strikeouts, which he tallied in 91 1/3 more innings.
When Strider returns, the odd man out in the rotation could be Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder or AJ Smith-Shawver, who showed his great potential on Monday when he allowed one hit over eight scoreless innings against the Reds.
Holmes recorded nine strikeouts and allowed just two runs over six innings against a strong Dodgers lineup on Friday. But he allowed three of the four home runs Eugenio Suárez hit against the Braves on April 26 and he surrendered two homers to Reds leadoff hitter TJ Friedl on Wednesday.