MIAMI — Spencer Strider, the right-handed ace for the Atlanta Braves, will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, the team said Saturday.
Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas, performed the procedure on Friday, using an internal brace to repair the UCL. The 25-year-old Strider avoided Tommy John surgery, which the former Christian Academy of Knoxville standout had in 2019 while at Clemson University.
Recovery from the internal brace surgery, which uses an artificial material to make the repair, has allowed pitchers to return to the majors in as few as nine months. Tommy John surgery, which uses a tendon from elsewhere in the body to replace the torn ligament, has a typical rehab period of 12 to 18 months.
Strider complained about discomfort in his elbow after pitching four innings in Atlanta's 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 5. An MRI the next day revealed damage to his UCL, and the Braves prepared for the worst.
"You never expect these things to be good or just a blip on the screen," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said at the time.
Strider was 20-5 in 2023, leading Major League Baseball in wins and strikeouts (281). The 6-foot, 195-pounder had a 3.86 ERA and pitched 186 2/3 innings during the regular season.
He had a 7.00 ERA with 12 strikeouts in two starts this year with no decisions.
The club's first attempt at finding someone to fill Strider's spot in the rotation went poorly. Right-hander Allan Winans was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett last Sunday after Strider went on the 15-day injured list. Winans allowed seven runs (six earned) in a disastrous five-inning start against the Mets on Thursday and was optioned back to the Stripers after the game.
Snitker said the team has been looking at replacement options since Strider initially went down but doesn't have anyone specific in mind yet.
"We're monitoring all those guys that are down there," he said before Saturday's game against the Miami Marlins, which the Braves lost 5-1. "All the starters. We have some good options, and we'll just see where we are after different things. It'll be kind of a day-to-day thing."
Atlanta is 8-5 with a one-game lead over the second-place Philadelphia Phillies (8-7) in the National League East standings. The Braves, who are seeking their seventh straight division title, did get some satisfaction from left-handed ace Max Fried's performance in Friday's 8-1 win in the opener to the three-game series in Miami.
Fried, 30, had entered with an 18.00 ERA after a pair of surprisingly rough starts without a decision to open the season, but the 2022 NL Cy Young Award runner-up limited the Marlins to four hits on 84 pitches while striking out four batters and walking one.
"It was nice to contribute," Fried said.
Strider joins a list of big-name pitchers who have sustained significant injuries this year with the season a little more than two weeks old. Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Guardians, Trevor Gott (Oakland Athletics), Jonathan Loáisiga (New York Yankees) and Eury Pérez (Marlins) are among the pitchers diagnosed with elbow injuries. Meister performed Tommy John surgery on Bieber on Friday.
"I hate it. I want to see the stars, the best players play," Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. "I think just as a baseball fan, I'll always be a baseball fan. My son is 16 and is a baseball fan. My daughter is 14, and she's a baseball fan. She comes to the games to watch the best players compete against each other. So we have to figure this out as an industry, as an organization, the whole deal."
The Marlins have dealt with their fair share of pitching injuries. Their ace, 2022 NL Cy Young award winner Sandy Alcantara, is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October. Pérez underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this month after initially being diagnosed with mild elbow inflammation late in the spring.
"We're all trying to figure this out to keep the best players out there," Schumaker said. "As much as I don't want to see Strider facing us, I want to see him pitch in the major leagues for a long time. ... We have to figure this out, and it starts down at the youth sports, honestly.
"My son's in high school, and he has a kid on his team that's having Tommy John surgery. So it starts down below, and the whole baseball community has to figure this thing out."