Atlanta Braves fans were understandably bummed when Spencer Strider went on the IL with a hamstring injury. Strider had only just returned from a year long layoff after elbow surgery and losing him again was a gut punch for a fan base that is still reeling from all the injuries that befell the Braves in 2024. Thankfully, it sounds like Strider is making decent progress towards being back on the mound again.
After getting some downtime to let his hamstring strain calm down, we started getting some updates that he had progressed to long toss and was progressing towards throwing off the mound again. Thankfully, Strider did throw a bullpen on Wednesday and, for the moment, it looks like he could be progressing to the next steps of his rehab soon.
Spencer Strider throws successful bullpen session, awaits recovery to determine next steps
Both the Braves and Strider are being very careful to temper expectations when it comes to his recovery. No one wants him to have a setback from progressing too quickly and hamstrings are notoriously temperamental in general. No one was willing to commit to Strider's next step in his rehab until it is known how he recovers from the session and how he feels Thursday which is completely fair.
But this is still good news. That Strider is throwing off the mound and seemingly felt good immediately after the bullpen is a sign that he is on the mend and could be progressing towards a rehab stint soon. There is a question as to how much he will need to build his pitch count back up given that he wasn't "all the way" back when he returned from the IL the first time, but that is a minor quibble.
For fans eager to see the Braves back at full strength, this is a welcome development and then the next big bit of news will be on Ronald Acuna Jr.'s rehab. Don't get ahead of yourselves just yet as Strider could be sore and that could slow his return down considerably, but there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
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