Braves vs Rockies Preview: Spencer Strider looks to find consistency

Well the Braves turned around what looked like a pretty dire game against Colorado on Friday into a solid thumping of a horrible team in the Rockies. They’ll hope to get a better start from Spencer Strider than they did from Bryce Elder.

Spencer hasn’t quite been his peak self since coming back from his elbow surgery. His velocity has been down to the mid-90s, his command hasn’t been sharp, and he hasn’t missed his usual number of bats. It’s going to be harder living as a nearly two pitch pitcher when Spencer’s fastball is more above average than double-plus. He’s added some horizontal movement to both his slider since we last saw him pre-injury, but he may need to do more to reinvent himself if he can’t ramp back up the fastball velocity. His arm angle has also dropped substantially since pre-injury. The results have been those of a different pitcher than the Strider we are used to and that’s because he’s been a different pitcher.

On the other side, Chase Dollander will take the mound for Colorado. He is one of the top prospects in baseball and was a top 10 draft pick in 2023, but his results have been quite poor so far through 44.2 innings in the majors. He’s only striking out 8.46 batters per nine, while walking 4.43, and he’s giving up a bunch of homers, although some of that is probably bad HR/FB luck. Still, a 4.75 xFIP is not good for by far his most flattering run prevention metric. There hasn’t been a positive trend either, and if anything it’s been a negative trend for the young pitcher.

We’ll certainly hope his the Braves’ offence can take advantage of Dollander’s struggles and that Strider can find his old self or a more effective new one.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Satur. day, June 13, 4:10 p.m. EDT

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

TV: FanDuel Sports Network South / Southeast

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan