How Braves’ Spencer Strider plans to bounce back after challenging 2025 season

The Atlanta Braves are currently taking part in spring training as they prepare for the upcoming 2026 MLB season, hoping to bounce back after a rough 2025 campaign. While Ronald Acuna Jr. is fully healthy heading into this year, the team will have to weather the first part of the season without starting pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach, who is out with an injury.

Last year was a rough one for pitcher Spencer Strider, who returned after missing nearly all of the 2024 season, but did not perform up to his standards for the most part.

Recently, Reggie Chatman Jr. of 11 Alive reported on what Strider focused on this offseason as he hopes to retake his position among the best pitchers in the MLB.

“Spencer Strider explains what he worked on this offseason: Focused on optimal movement and range of motion. Didn’t track velocity because not much high intensity throwing. Lots of lower intensity work to improve movement pattern,” reported Chatman Jr. on X, formerly Twitter.

Strider was a revelation for the Braves during the 2023 season, establishing himself as arguably the best young pitcher in the league at the time, but he struggled through a rough playoff series against the Philadelphia Phillies that year, and then was forced to miss most of the following season after undergoing surgery.

This year, Strider has had the benefit of having a fully healthy offseason in order to return to form, and the Braves will be counting on him to do so, especially now that Schwellenbach figures to miss most of the first half of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Atlanta will also be looking for bounce back seasons from several other players on offense, including both Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley, each of whom struggled by their standards during the 2025 season.

In any case, the 2026 campaign is slated to get underway in late March.

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