VENICE, Fla. – Hard-throwing Spencer Strider, a right-handed pitcher who made his MLB debut with the Atlanta Braves late last season as a reliever, is being considered for one of the open spots in the team’s starting rotation.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos told The Associated Press on Thursday that Kyle Wright and Huascar Ynoa “are the front-runners” for spots behind the established top trio of Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Ian Anderson.
Anthopoulos included Strider, regarded as a possible future closer, with Kyle Muller and Tucker Davidson as others competing for rotation spots with the reigning World Series champions. Strider’s fastball has been timed at 100 mph.
“Obviously he has great velocity,” Anthopoulos said. “He has looked good.”
Strider, 23, was a fourth-round draft pick from Clemson in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic shut down the minor leagues that year, but he was a fast riser as a starter in the Braves’ organization in 2021.
Class A Augusta was the first of his four minor league stops in the season, and he struck out 153 batters in 94 innings across the minors while posting a 3.64 ERA. Strider allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings in two relief appearances with Atlanta late in the season.
“We saw a big arm in him last year, the brief look that we got,” manager Brian Snitker said Tuesday. “I like him also. I’ve been very impressed with a lot of our young guys we’ve seen in this camp, and he’s one of them.”
AP photo by Steve Helber / Atlanta Braves rookie pitcher Spencer Strider talks with catcher Shea Langeliers after warmups during spring training on March 14 at CoolToday Park in North Port, Fla. Langeliers has since been traded to the Oakland Athletics, but Strider remains in camp and is a possibility for a spot in the starting rotation early in the season.Strider pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts against the Minnesota Twins in his first spring training appearance.
“He did a really nice job,” Anthopoulos said. “I’m anxious to see him again.”
Right-hander Touki Toussaint was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday. Even without Toussaint in the mix, the Braves still face a difficult task of finding enough innings for their pitchers in an exhibition season shortened by the lockout. Thursday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin was rained out, pushing back a scheduled start for Anderson.
The Braves open the regular season April 7 in Atlanta against the Cincinnati Reds and are scheduled to play 14 consecutive days before their first day off. Anthopoulos said the Braves likely will open the season with a six-man rotation “at least for two times through the rotation. Then after that, I think we’ll go back down to five.”
That leaves room for three of the five candidates mentioned by Anthopoulos to each make two starts in April before the move back to a five-man rotation. Anthopoulos also said Toussaint’s early move to the minor league camp, where he can be given more consistent work, doesn’t rule him out of the rotation plans.
“Touki is going to be up here again,” Anthopoulos said, “and he’s going to make starts for us.”