One of the weirdest things about the Atlanta Braves' 2025 season was the relative ineffectiveness of Spencer Strider. Since Strider debuted, he had been one of the best pitchers in all of Major League Baseball. However, last season was his first taste of extended underperformance. Because of his 2024 elbow injury, expectations were at least somewhat guarded entering 2025.
However, no one thought Strider would struggle to the level he did last year. It quickly became clear that Strider never found his groove in 2025, and the results meant many fans entered this offseason worried about how Strider will bounce back in 2026. Strider recognized his performance did not meet his lofty standards, and seemed to be determined to fix everything that went wrong last season.
Thankfully, Strider is not alone in his assessment as the Braves new pitching coach recently spoke about his hopes for a Strider bounce back season. Jeremy Hefner is the new pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves, and in a recent radio interview with C.J. Nitkowski, he spoke on what changes he thinks Strider can benefit from.
Spencer Strider, 97mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/aRvkBvkfLX
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 5, 2025
Jeremy Hefner points to Spencer Strider's arm angle as a reason for his 2025 struggles
Strider's dip in velocity was well discussed throughout 2025, but another contributor to his struggles was the lack of induced vertical break on his fastball. During his 2023 dominance, Strider averaged 97.2 mph on his four-seamer and 18.4 inches of induced vertical break or IVB for short. Last season, those numbers dropped to 95.5 mph and 16.4 inches of IVB.
According to Hefner, the main reason for those drops is Strider's lower arm angle. When the Braves hired Hefner they knew they were getting a guy who loves the analytical side of pitching. Figuring out Strider's drop in velocity and IVB sounded like a fun challenge for Hefner from the sound of his interview. Hefner pointed out that multiple factors can contribute to the decline Strider saw in 2025, but the note he made about his arm angle proves to be very valid reasoning.
From 2022-2024 Strider's arm angle averaged 46°, 48°, and 46° respectively. Last season Strider's arm angle dipped to 42°. Hefner thinks the drop in arm angle cause Strider to crossfire much more, and as a result lost those important metrics because he wasn't attacking the hitter downhill. Thankfully, this seems like a simple fix, and with an offseason of training for Strider a bounce back campaign could be on the horizon.
The Braves' 2026 rotation has question marks surrounding it, but if Spencer Strider can return to his 2023 form things get a lot easier. It sounds like the new coaching staff, and Strider himself are very hopeful a bounce back campaign is in store. The problems from 2025 have been identified, and the work to improve has already begun. Now, fans just have to wait until spring roles around so that we can see Hefner and Strider's hard work put to the test.