WASHINGTON — Spencer Strider climbed the mound in a major league game for the first time in 29 days, and just the second time in 13 months, and no, he was not wearing a cape.
There was no 10-gallon hat to signify a new sheriff in town, just a sleeveless dude on a chilly night aiming to fortify an Atlanta Braves roster that’s grown accustomed to not waiting around.
On this Tuesday night, Strider – a 20-game winner and 281-strikeout man just two seasons ago – was not particularly good. A month-long layoff after a right hamstring strain that followed a yearlong absence due to a second elbow reconstruction surgery will do that to a guy.
Yet it was not a particularly dire development that Strider had little command for his pitches early on, nor that his fastball averaged 95 mph, a half-tick slower than a month ago and 3 mph less than peak Strider of old.
No, Strider is not expected to be a savior. Nor is 2023 MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., who is expected back this weekend following a 12-month absence due to an ACL tear in his right knee.
See, the Braves are getting used to a by-any-means necessary ethos, which saved them from a slump-laden and injury-plagued 2024 season that ended with their seventh consecutive playoff berth, clinched on the final day of the season.
For their latest trick? How about starting the season 0-7, losing their key offseason acquisition to a PED suspension four games into the season and holding casting calls for both corner outfield spots as if they’re running a middle school play?
Yet the Braves continued workshopping solutions until they found a combination that works. If there’s a Braves Way that can define this period of sustained success, perhaps it’s the ability to take a punch – and find a way to counter.
“Being in organizations that expect to win, the biggest thing is even if your big guys are either not performing well or are hurt, no one feels sorry for themselves,” says Alex Verdugo, the former Yankee, Red Sox and Dodger signed off the unemployment line at the end of March to eventually solve their left field conundrum. “It’s having that next guy up, man. Having that mindset of constantly battling, whether it’s good at-bats, productive at-bats, getting guys over, the smaller things.
“As you do that, bigger results come from that and that’s what we’re seeing.”
Right now, the 24-24 Braves are a .500 team, but that doesn’t look too bad after seeing 0-7 and 5-13 next to their name in the standings. It is Atlanta, and so starting pitching has kept them above water even without Strider, with a National League-best 2.70 ERA led by burgeoning ace Spencer Schwellenbach.
But after two years of strange underperformance and unfortunate circumstance, the Braves remain irrepressible.
“They don’t let anything get ‘em down, I know that,” says manager Brian Snitker. “They don’t sit around and do the ‘Woe is me’ type thing. They just keep working and preparing and organizationally we did a good job in the depth.
“They seem to come together. I look at it as an opportunity for someone to do something really good. Fortunately, over the last few years, we’ve had guys do just that.”
Even if it takes a minute.
A dash of Dugie
Acuña’s loss could have spoiled each of the past two seasons. The Braves mixed and matched as best they could last year and won 89 games; this offseason, not wanting to rush Acuña’s return, they signed journeyman Bryan De La Cruz to hold things down.
And then Jurickson Profar got popped with an 80-game ban for a fertility drug.
De La Cruz and left fielder Jarred Kelenic did not rise to the occasion, to say the least. They needed just 39 combined games to produce negative-1 wins above replacement, and a quartet of left fielders before Verdugo joined the club combined for a .200/.268/.231 slash line.
Right field was almost as grim, with Kelenic’s .167/.231/.300 putridity earning the veteran a trip with De La Cruz to the minor leagues after just 23 games. Stuart Fairchild, old friend Eddie Rosario, hey, everyone come on down.
Yet Verdugo, with no spring training under his belt, made his debut April 18, batting leadoff with the club mired at 5-13, and for whatever reason, it was go time.
Atlanta won eight of 10 as Verdugo started 23 of the next 28 games; Eli White, a 31-year-old who’d received just 59 plate appearances the previous two seasons, settled into right and has produced a .783 OPS with 11 extra-base hits.
Whatever it takes.
“Dugie has come in and fit in very nicely,” says All-Star third baseman Austin Riley. “You always talk about a lineup with depth and being able to flip a lineup and get it to your middle of the order guys – and they’re doing that. Batting in the two hole, I feel like Eli’s on base a lot, Nick Allen’s on base a lot, Dugie’s on base a lot.”
Says Snitker: ‘Alex didn’t have spring training and he comes here, and it kind of coincided with us getting off the mat a little bit. When you get veteran guys like that, it helps. And you need that.”
Before April 18, Verdugo’s last game was Game 5 of the World Series, where he started in left field for the Yankees. But they turned the job over to rookie Jasson Dominguez, and everyone else decided they didn’t need his services.
But Profar’s suspension changed all that. And Verdugo appreciated a shot with yet another perennial power.
“This is a good organization and a team that just won it in ’21,” says Verdugo, 29. “They’re not too far out from being world champions, and I still feel like they hold themselves to a certain standard. A lot of guys here have contracts and have some stability, and it’s still cool to see them preparing and focusing on the things they should be to give themselves the best opportunity to win.
“All the big organizations I’ve been on, including this team, that’s what they do – they find a way to win that day.”
Not fade away
The Braves should want for very little very soon.
Acuña is hitting 420-foot home runs on his rehab assignment and should be back in time for the Braves’ return to Truist Field this weekend against San Diego. Strider beat him to it, though giving up four runs in 5 ⅓ innings – including a home run and two hit batters – was far from a glorious return for the notorious perfectionist.
“I take no joy,” he says Tuesday night, “in not giving us a chance.”
Still, he returns to a club well within the NL East race, with the rival Mets and Phillies confronting issues of their own. There’s still plenty to play for as the weather warms up and Strider presumably adds some more fuzz to his fastball.
“I think they were forced to acknowledge where they were, and obviously they weren’t happy with it and credit to them for remaining confident and seeking out solutions and trying to get better,” says Strider. “And you know, it takes time. It’s not like one day everything just magically got better for everybody. So that came from deliberate work.
“That’s an amazing testament to those guys and what they were able to do and where they put themselves now.”
With an MVP return just around the corner.