Why Braves might still be NL's best without Spencer Strider

The bad news was expected this past weekend, but Spencer Strider's elbow injury will sting the Atlanta Braves for the rest of the year.

Strider's season — one built on promise and prestige with the young right-hander dubbed by many the best starting pitcher in baseball and the National League Cy Young favorite — is over. Technically, Strider's 2024 campaign ended the moment the Braves discovered that his ulnar collateral ligament was damaged, which came soon after he flagged the discomfort in his pitching elbow in early April. 

After long days of silence from Atlanta, the club finally announced the expected — and the worst — Saturday: Strider had already undergone elbow surgery and will miss the remainder of the year.

The injury does have a silver lining, however. That Strider was able to undergo the less-invasive internal brace procedure, rather than Tommy John surgery, indicates his UCL did not fully tear. Strider already had Tommy John surgery in 2019 while pitching for Clemson. Pitchers with less severe elbow damage, including partial UCL tears, are better candidates for the internal brace procedure, which has a shorter recovery time than Tommy John. 

In layperson terms, if Strider was forced to undergo a second Tommy John surgery, there was a greater chance of him missing the majority of 2025. Conversely, the Braves are optimistic Strider will return to the mound closer to the start of next season. 

Now, all eyes are on Atlanta to see how the club navigates losing the best strikeout pitcher in the game. There is no copy-and-paste replacement for Strider, not in MLB and certainly not on any level within the Braves' organization. But it does help that the team, still flashing the best record in the NL East, has