In spring training debut, the life in Spencer Strider’s fastball returns

SARASOTA, Florida — Spencer Strider made his spring training debut Saturday, and the most important outcome is that his right arm remained intact after two innings of work against the Baltimore Orioles.

Everything after that is secondary.

But the second bullet item is also worth your attention. Of his 32 pitches, Strider threw 14 four-seam fastballs on this warm afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium.

They didn’t crackle with the same velocity as they did when he set the Braves single-season strikeout record in 2023, but they did have the life that his four-seam fastballs lacked a year ago.

And, as he comes back from his second injury to his ulnar collateral ligament, that is a notable development.

Induced vertical break is the technical term for the illusory effect of balls rising up in and out of the zone that cause batters to whiff or get under the pitch.

And Strider had it Saturday. By Statcast’s measure, his fastballs averaged a hefty 18 inches of IVB.

In 2025, as he returned from his second surgery, it was 16.4 inches. But in 2023, when he was at his best, it measured 18.4 inches.

“Yeah, it’s been a lot better,” Strider said.

It confirmed observations offered Friday from the team camp down the coast in North Port.

“It looks to me, early on, when I’ve seen him throw, the fastball’s got that giddy-up again,” manager Walt Weiss said.

Said ace Chris Sale, “It’s starting to jump. It’s kind of expected.”

And if Strider’s fastball is indeed hopping, the rest can be sorted out. Concerns that Strider can’t regain his form and be the pitcher the Braves need him to be as they pursue the National League East title didn’t evaporate Saturday, but they were certainly lessened.

As Weiss said Friday, the key for Strider in Saturday’s outing was the fastball.

“How is the fastball coming out?” Weiss said. “He’ll tell you last year, his fastball didn’t have the same life, which made it tough for him.”

Strider didn’t dominate with the pitch against the Orioles. Three fastballs were smashed with exit velocities of 97 miles per hour or more, including an Adley Rutschman line-drive double to center.

But the fastball was also coming in at a relatively pedestrian 93 miles per hour against the Orioles. His season average last year was 95.5 miles per hour. (It was a superhuman 97.2 in 2023.)

“The fact of the matter is that I’ve had two elbow surgeries,” Strider said. “Last year wasn’t what it was, and it’s just going to take time to get things where I know everybody wants them to be.”

In the two innings, he gave up two hits and one run and struck out two while walking none. While Weiss focused on the fastball, Strider had other objectives.

“The goal is to try to be in the zone,” he said. “Everything’s coming out of my hand right. The slider was really good, the curveball’s good. I got a strikeout with the curveball, laid one in for a strike, change-ups out of the hand were good.

“That was really the goal (Saturday), try to narrow it in, kind of set the bar in the zone.”

He caught Taylor Ward looking with a big bender for a called third strike to start the bottom of the second. He ended the inning with another looper that Leody Taveras swung through for his second strikeout.