The 2025 season is officially spiraling out of control for the Atlanta Braves. Their latest loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks pushed Atlanta's record to 27-32, and made the Braves losers in nine of their last 12 ballgames. The poor play has sparked coaching changes and made Alex Anthopoulos come out of the shadows for damage control media sessions.
Drake Baldwin continues to be the one of the few lone bright spot for this team this year, but even his impressive performance last night wasn't enough to snap the Braves losing streak. The game quickly got out of hand because Spencer Strider got hit pretty hard by the Diamondbacks. It's been just three starts since Strider returned from his hamstring strain, but one thing is clear...the stuff just doesn't look the same.
Strider's 4-seamer averaged 95.2 (95.1 last week in Philly). His 46% FB usage was the second lowest of his career (43.6% at DET 6/14/23 -- also allowed 3HRs that day). Had 54.4% FB usage in each of his previous 3 starts. Leaned heavily on offspeed over final 3 innings.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 4, 2025
Strider still searching for answers in his return, and the Braves don't have the time for growing pains
No one expected Strider to come back after over a year off from pitching and immediately be the Cy Young candidate we were spoiled to watch his first couple seasons in the big leagues. However, Strider is clearly battling some big time rust concerns early on, and the Braves simply don't have the time to continue dropping games.
Strider got 22 swings on his four-seam fastball last night against Arizona, but recorded just one whiff on what used to be his bread and butter. His dip in fastball velocity has been well discussed, but it's clear his command isn't where it needs to be either. It's why Strider begun to lean on his offspeed pitches much more frequently the next couple of times through the order.
All of the pitches the Diamondbacks homered on were absolute meatballs from Strider. The 95 mph fastballs he's offering up can't afford to be left middle-middle like he has been, because he's going to continue to struggle this season if that remains the case. Big league hitters are too good to do that without being punished for it.
Strider's current status is basically a microcosm of the Braves 2025 season. So much potential, and we've seen him be amongst the best of the league. Sadly, other circumstances have altered who he is. Now it's up to both Strider and the Braves to start figuring things out. If they don't fans are going to go crazy watching this team throughout the summer months.