Coming off major elbow surgery, no one realistically expected Atlanta Braves starter Spencer Strider to not have any speed bumps on his road back. Strider was always going to have some rust to knock off upon his return and it is not uncommon whatsoever for a pitcher to not look 100% in their first season back from a long lay-off. Still, the level of Strider's struggles in 2025 at times was beginning to cause some real concerns for the Braves and fans alike.
As far as we know, Strider is completely healthy and that is the most important thing. If he was still dealing with soreness or his velocity was way down, that would be more concerning. However, Strider has been candid throughout the season that it is taking a lot of work to get his stuff to have the same shape and action that it once did and he certainly hasn't been shy when it comes to calling out his own bad performances.
However, it seems as though Strider seems to have a better idea of what is causing his intermittent issues and has a comprehensive plan to address it during the offseason. If he is right and he executes his adjustments, Braves fans could be in for something special in 2026.
Spencer Strider has his offseason game plan and it could pay massive dividends
Up until his last start of the season, Strider was still making adjustments and critiquing his every fault. "There was some regression today. Just didn’t command the curveball. Slider, commanded it, but didn’t have the right shape. I thought we executed a lot of pitches still, and everything kind of went to the area I was trying to throw it to for the most part."
These sorts of quotes from Strider have become commonplace after his starts this season. While he acknowledged progress, Strider was also brutally honest when things did not go well even if the results were good. Now, Strider has a plan to get his body in better shape to keep his delivery far more loose over the course of the season. He firmly believes that with some added attention to his range of motion and how his body is moving during his delivery, the rest of his offseason work can pay big dividends.
There is a real chance that we will never see the budding ace version of Strider again. Talented pitchers get hurt all the time and despite what some may believe, a lot of them are never truly 100% ever again and Strider has certainly made some delivery changes to preserve his arm that will make things more difficult to recapture that form. However, he seems to think that he made have figured out something that he can fix and get him where he wants to be. If Strider is right, the rest of the league may want to watch out.