Anthopoulos provides updates on Strider, Schwellenbach for 2027 season
LAS VEGAS — Spencer Strider should be ready to go when the 2027 season begins. Spencer Schwellenbach likely won’t be.
This, according to Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, who gave an update Tuesday on both pitchers. Schwellenbach missed the entire 2026 season while Strider made only eight starts, the last coming June 12.
Strider, before the Braves’ regular-season and playoff run ended, had already begun throwing at the team’s training complex in Florida. Anthopoulos said he expects the right-hander to be ready for spring training.
The 28-year-old Strider left a June 12 start in New York City because of right elbow and right shoulder soreness. There was no need for surgery, yet Strider still missed the next three-plus months of the season. He also missed the outset of the campaign with an oblique injury.
Schwellenbach’s 2026 season, meanwhile, never happened.
He was placed on the 60-day injured list Feb. 10 on the eve of spring training after bone spurs were discovered in his right elbow, an elbow that had a small fracture in it in June 2025. The right-hander was on track to return this season before a setback in his recovery.
It was then decided in late August that Schwellenbach would need elbow surgery.
Anthopoulos said he told spoke with the 26-year-old recently and told him moving forward to take it slowly in his latest recovery efforts, saying, “there’s no rush right now. We have time.”
As for how the two Spencers fit into the Braves’ future pitching plans, Anthopoulos confided that neither, in their present state, will be part of the initial plans for the starting rotation for 2027.
“I think what we’ve been through with both guys, it’s not their fault, obviously. I think the thought is just, ‘Let’s get them right, let’s get them healthy.’ Obviously, we know what they can do when they’re healthy and they’re a part of this club,” Anthopoulos added. “We were still able to win the division (in 2026), and you think about how much better we would be (with them).
“But I don’t think it’s fair to them to say we’re counting on them to anchor our rotation.”