During an early season stretch that has truly tested Atlanta Braves fans, the one thing they have been able to hang their hat on was that the team was not at full strength. In addition to being without 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. until probably the middle of May, Atlanta has also been eagerly awaiting the return of staff ace Spencer Strider.
Losing Strider to an elbow injury last year was a gut punch that foreshadowed an absolute devastation of their roster. Getting him back on the mound hopefully help the Braves regain the swagger they have lost over the last year and set the stage for a lot of fun once Acuna Jr. is back.
Strider did make his 2025 debut as expected against the Blue Jays and it is safe to say that he was ready for the occasion as he immediately struck out both Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to start the game.
Spencer Strider's return to the mound for the Braves immediately resulted in embarrassing Blue Jays' top hitters
From his first pitch, it sure didn't look like Strider was a guy coming off a year long stint on the IL. His slider was darting like crazy and his fastball was consistently 96-97 mph. It was almost like he had never left except for the tear stains on our pillows from 2024.
Bichette was the first victim for Strider as he got ahead 0-2 on a pair of inside heaters followed by an ugly swing on a nasty slider low and away. Guerrero Jr. took a little bit more work as he spit on the first slider he saw, but some fastballs at different elevations threw Vladdy Jr.'s timing off and he, too, finally bit on a slider out of the zone.
There is no guarantee that Strider will keep this up throughout his first start back as that is a tough ask. Since then, he has given up a couple of hits and is missing the zone a bit especially on pitches up in addition to getting squeezed. However, Strider clearly still has all the of pieces necessary to dominate hitters again and based on the early results, he isn't far from putting it all together again.