NORTH PORT, Fla. — The customarily mustachioed Spencer Strider is sporting a full beard and two new tattoos this spring, including one with the word “Stoic” inside his left biceps.
“I was bored,” the Braves pitcher joked.
If we’re being honest, one doesn’t get such a tattoo unless one strives to be stoic. That is Strider, 26, who’s in the final stages of rehab from his second major elbow surgery in five years.
From the Oxford Dictionary:
Stoic — a person who is able to suffer pain or trouble without complaining or showing what they are feeling
This was Strider’s answer Saturday morning at spring training when asked what he’d learned about himself while recovering from a second major injury in his young career.
“I keep saying it, but the process is what I love ultimately,” he said. “Talk about mastering a craft or something. People talk about (it requiring) 10,000 hours. I mean, mastery is something that doesn’t really have a destination. It’s hard to define it, so you don’t really know when it happens, you just know that somebody is a master at something.
“I’m not calling myself a master, but I think that’s what I’ve kind of been able to focus in on, (when) there were no outcomes to define myself.”
He elaborated: “That identity, that ego was not fed by anything on the field. So, you’re spending a lot of time with yourself. Delayed gratification is absolutely the main component of a rehab process. So, just trying to find ways to get better and ultimately enjoy that progress and that learning process.”
Strider led the majors in wins (20) and strikeouts (281 in 186 2/3 innings) in 2023, and was an early NL Cy Young Award favorite entering 2024. But he made only two starts before a damaged UCL ligament required season-ending surgery in which an internal brace was used to repair the ligament, which had been damaged by a bone fragment.
The fragment had developed, Strider said, since Tommy John elbow surgery he had in 2019 while at Clemson.
He’s 10 months removed from the latest surgery, which entails a typical rehab period of 9-12 months instead of the 14-16 months that most pitchers require for Tommy John rehab. He won’t be on the Opening Day roster, but Strider should be back in the Braves’ rotation by late April or early May.
He’s been throwing off the mound for at least a couple of months, and the Braves expect he’ll begin to throw live batting practice in the next few weeks and will pitch in a Grapefruit League game before they break camp.
“He looks really good to me,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said after watching Strider throw a few times at North Port. “I think he’s where he’s supposed to be right now.”
Strider was asked if he could estimate where he was percentage-wise, along the lines of Ronald Acuña Jr. saying Friday that he’s running at 90-95 percent capacity as Acuña returns from knee surgery.
After pausing for a moment, Strider said, “I don’t really think in those terms. I don’t know what 100 percent is. And we’re not very good — just athletes in general — at assessing our percentage effort. If you ask an Olympic runner to run at 85 percent, I don’t know that they’re going to really do that well, you know?
“It’s so subjective and dependent upon the day, the context. But like I said earlier, we’ve been focused on making those incremental improvements, trying to take one step each day, 1 percent, that kind of focus. And I feel like we’re in a good kind of spring training spot. We have to do things a little differently just because it’s still a rehab process. But I don’t feel too dissimilar from where I’d be this time of year in spring training.”
Have we mentioned that Strider takes an intellectual, philosophical and methodical approach to basically everything in life, including and perhaps especially athletic performance? If he were a hitter, Strider would most definitely not be the “see ball, hit ball” type. He doesn’t keep it simple. Anything.
“He’s very focused on what he’s doing and dedicated,” Snitker said. “I knew when they were talking about what he was going to go through (after the second elbow surgery), it’s like if anybody can do it, he can. Because he’s not going to take any shortcuts. He’s going to be very dedicated in what he’s doing and consistent in what he’s doing.
“I think that’s going to allow him to come back and be a very elite pitcher again.”
Braves pitcher Grant Holmes, who debuted last season after 10 years in the minor leagues, worked out some with Strider in the offseason and has a locker next to his in the spring training clubhouse.
Grant Holmes had a 3.56 ERA in 26 appearances during his first big-league season. (Rich Storry / Getty Images)
“Special guy. Special pitcher,” Holmes said. “He’s one of a kind. And the way he does things, it’s pretty special. He’s definitely one of the more devoted guys that I’ve seen, as far as his workload and stuff like that.”
Ian Anderson, competing for a starting-rotation spot this spring after missing two MLB seasons for Tommy John surgery, is inspired by Strider.
“He’s the heart and soul of this team,” Anderson said, “so it’s obviously great having him back. And we’ve had plenty of good conversations about pitching and many other things.”
Matt Olson and Strider work out in the offseason at the same training center, Maven Baseball Lab in Atlanta. Olson was impressed with what he saw then and the progress Strider has made since. Olson is among the many Braves who stopped what they were doing this week to watch Strider throw off the mound.
“I think we all know Strider is going to be dotting all the i’s and crossing the t’s,” Olson said. “He’s been on top of all his work. Looks great. You know, he’s coming back from injury, so hopefully he’s not going too hard; I know Strider’s mentality.”
After making it this far in his rehab without a setback, the last thing Strider wants is to speed up the final steps and screw up anything.
“Yeah, it’s a fine balance for sure,” Strider said. “And the training staff has plenty of experience with these processes, so they do a good job of making sure that I don’t run out and hurt myself every day, or do too little. Like I said, I think that’s the thing that gets lost in the process of making those incremental steps, is you need to make sure the floor is coming up more so than anything.
“I think that’s definitely the hardest part and that’s kind of where we are now, is understanding you’ve made it this far. You’ve checked a lot of these boxes, now let’s flip the switch to competing. And having done this before, that brings out that last 5 percent if you want to put a number on it that, for lack of a better term, gets you into that competitive state. It’s just focusing less on what’s going on on the rubber and a little more on what’s going on at the plate and trying to produce outcomes.”
Even if he doesn’t pitch in a spring training game until late in camp, and has no chance of being on the Opening Day roster, it’s hard to imagine Strider having any difficulties staying motivated for the next six weeks in Florida.
“I’ve never had motivation issues with baseball,” he said. “Of course, there’s times where you’re discouraged, you’re not as motivated for a number of reasons. But ultimately, there’s that inherent love for the game that I have that makes it easier for me. But I think, reverting back to the mastery concept, I think that’s really what it’s about.
“It’s just understanding every component of your life is about improvement and optimization, and whether you can identify a one-to-one correlation to how that improves your skill in baseball. I don’t think it’s instrumental. I think everybody’s life journey here is about just being a better person, right? In any way you can.”
He paused before adding, “That’s something that I think I’ve really come to understand, is what I enjoy, is just finding ways to be better in any way. Because if I do one little thing better, I mean, it gives me that much better chance of being successful on the baseball field.”
(Top photo: David J. Griffin / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
