Strider (oblique strain) to begin season on IL

NORTH PORT, Fla. – The Braves opened Spring Training by revealing projected No. 2 starter Spencer Schwellenbach was dealing with right elbow discomfort. They will exit camp without the availability of three other starting pitchers, including Spencer Strider.

Braves manager Walt Weiss said Strider is expected to begin the season on the injured list with a left oblique strain. The right-handed pitcher felt a slight pull after making a start in a Minor League game against the Red Sox on Tuesday. Lingering discomfort led to the decision to scratch him from Monday’s scheduled start against the Pirates.

“l think we've gotten out in front of this thing to a degree,” Weiss said. “So we're hoping it's not going to be a big deal.”

Even if Strider is sidelined for just a couple weeks, this will still be a blow for the pitching-thin Braves, who are scheduled to play 13 straight days to begin the regular season.

“It's hard for him to feel it, but it is there when he throws,” Weiss said. “There's a chance, if he would have went out and made a start today, it would have set him back further.”

Didier Fuentes will continue to stretch his arm out when he starts in place of Strider on Monday in Bradenton. But Weiss said the plan remains for the 20-year-old right-hander to begin the season as a reliever.

Weiss revealed the Strider news after being asked about Reynaldo López’s four-seam fastball averaging just 89.4 mph against the Twins on Sunday. López believes the significant drop was just a product of struggling with his mechanics.

But this was not an encouraging Grapefruit League finish for López, who made one regular-season start last year and then had season-ending arthroscopic right shoulder surgery.

“He says he’s fine,” Weiss said. “I asked him probably a dozen times yesterday. He just felt like his delivery was out of sync. It was just one of those days where he was really having to grind through an outing.”

Atlanta’s rotation to begin the season will likely include Chris Sale, López, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and José Suarez. When Martín Pérez agreed to stay in the organization despite not getting an Opening Day roster spot by Saturday’s deadline, the Braves said he needed to be stretched out further before being deemed a rotation candidate.

But with the options dwindling, Pérez might be pressed into duty earlier than expected.

Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both underwent elbow surgery in February. Both will be sidelined until late June or early July. Joey Wentz, another rotation candidate, tore his right ACL on March 8.

There were already some concerns about Strider, who underwent a second major elbow surgery in 2024. The 2023 All-Star’s fastball consistently sat around 93-94 mph during the final innings of Tuesday’s Minor League game. But he may have been limited by the developing oblique strain.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Weiss said. “There'll be more punches along the way. But we’ve got some quality arms in this camp. I've said that from the beginning. So that's what we do. We pick each other up when necessary.”