Spencer Strider

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He's 14-5 in his young career, with 13.7 K/9 IP.

This year, he's leading the league in Ks. 24 years old



Rob Friedman
@PitchingNinja
ICYMI: Spencer Strider's 102.4 mph Fastball...the fastest Strike on record thrown by a Starting Pitcher since MLB started tracking velo in 2008.


 
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He's 14-5 in his young career, with 13.7 K/9 IP.

This year, he's leading the league in Ks. 24 years old



Rob Friedman
@PitchingNinja
ICYMI: Spencer Strider's 102.4 mph Fastball...the fastest Strike on record thrown by a Starting Pitcher since MLB started tracking velo in 2008.


Currently leading the NL in wins with 10, K's with 155 and Ks/9 IP with 14.2
 
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With 10 strikeouts tonight, Spencer Strider increased his season total to 199. That's the 3rd-most by a player under the age of 25 before August since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893. He trails only Vida Blue (219 in 1971) & Walter Johnson (200 in 1912).

Strider lasted for 6.1 innings on the mound against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park Wednesday night. He allowed just two earned runs on six hits but settled for a no-decision, as the Braves suffered a 5-3 loss.

Nevertheless, there's no denying the talents of Spencer Strider, who extended his streak of 10-strikeout games to four starts. He also has at least 10 Ks in five of his last six starts, dating back to June. That stretch includes his 13-strikeout performance in a 7-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 20.

 
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Spencer Strider has already become the fastest player (by innings) in AL/NL history to reach 200 career strikeouts, and there is no shortage of other metrics in which he’s made history during his short career. But there’s one achievement he hasn’t quite knocked out yet: Can Strider become Mr. 300?

There have been 38 instances in the Modern Era (since 1900) of a pitcher having at least 300 strikeouts in a season, including only five in the past 20 years (most recently Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander in 2019).

“preposterous” is just the right word to describe the pace Strider is on heading into Wednesday night’s start against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Through 20 starts this season, Strider comfortably leads MLB with 189 strikeouts in 116 2/3 innings, also leading qualified pitchers with 14.6 K/9 IP and 9.5 strikeouts per start. He has not yet missed a start this year, meaning he is on pace to make 33 starts. If we operate under the assumption that he does, it would mean he is on pace to throw 192 1/3 innings and have a staggering 311 strikeouts.

 

Bucky

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Coming in dominating his first 2 seasons. He’s on an epic run.
 
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All-Star Spencer Strider underwent an MRI exam Saturday that showed damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in the righty’s pitching elbow, the team announced.

The Braves also said Strider will be further evaluated by Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas.


ATLANTA -- Spencer Strider is staring at the realistic possibility of undergoing Tommy John surgery for the second time in five years.

Strider’s absence will create a stir throughout the baseball world. He has completed just two full big league seasons, but he has already established himself as one of the game’s most electric starting pitchers.

Despite spending the first two months of 2022 as a reliever, he tallied a MLB-best 482 strikeouts over the past two seasons. Gerrit Cole ranked second with the 479 strikeouts he notched over 91 1/3 more innings.
 

icsept

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It’s unfortunate for Strider. It’s weird how so many pitchers could pitch complete games and 300+ strikeouts for 10+ seasons in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Now they’re all babied and still tear their ucl’s.
 

Don Wassall

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It’s unfortunate for Strider. It’s weird how so many pitchers could pitch complete games and 300+ strikeouts for 10+ seasons in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Now they’re all babied and still tear their ucl’s.
Yes, I've written about that many times. A great example is Stephen Strasburg, who just retired at the age of 35. He played 13 MLB seasons and threw a grand total of 1,470 innings, for an average of barely over 110 innings per season. His career total was about four to five seasons worth for the likes of Wood, Ryan, Sutton, Carlton, Jenkins, (Phil) Niekro, (Gaylord) Perry, Drysdale, Palmer, Seaver, Lolich and others, and none of them seemed to have arm problems.

Strasburg threw over 183 innings just twice, and actually led the NL in 2019 with a paltry total of 209. Strasburg was babied his entire career and still was almost constantly injured. Then you have players like Mike Trout and Bryce Harper who have ridiculous injury histories. Another reason why I lost the intense interest in baseball that I had for a good part of my life.
 

SneakyQuick

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It’s likely that what is considered and “injury” now would amount to a cortisone shot and pat on the back telling them to get back out there in the 80s and prior.
 

Don Wassall

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It’s likely that what is considered and “injury” now would amount to a cortisone shot and pat on the back telling them to get back out there in the 80s and prior.
Not if they had a sore arm, which was and is the most common injury for pitchers.
 

Carolina Speed

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It’s unfortunate for Strider. It’s weird how so many pitchers could pitch complete games and 300+ strikeouts for 10+ seasons in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Now they’re all babied and still tear their ucl’s.
My first guess on why this would be, is over usage at a young age. I'm in my late 50's and when I was growing up I started playing organized baseball around 7-8 years old we played 10-12 games in about 5-6 weeks in the summer and had an all-star game. That was it. We practiced maybe once or twice a week. Then went on to another sport such as football.
Now, some of these parents have their kids playing tee ball at age 5 sometimes 4 years old!! They begin getting individual instruction around 7-8. Getting coached by personal trainers/pitching coaches sometimes 3 days a week and playing as many as 5 games on the weekends for 3-4 months. When it's too cold to play, they go indoors and practice almost year-round. That's alot work for 8-9-10 year old kids(arms)!
I can't prove it, but I believe kids are over worked/over trained and by the time they get to college and MLB they're arms are damaged.
Same thing in football. Kids train year round for football and are stronger and have put alot of punishment on their bodies.. I believe that's what happend with my son. For years, he had worked so hard to get big and fast that his ligaments and joints couldn't handle the load and his ACL snapped on a routine cut back and then tore it again making a simple step during his recovery.
Now I can't prove any of this, but why else would this be happening? I never saw the kinds of injuries we see today when I was playing. We had injuries, but it was from being hit in the knee or leg, not form just cutting or twisting. Most of the injuries were to the players that were muscled up and worked to get bigger. The loose limber, less muscular guys never seemed to get injured. JMO.
BTW, Mike Trout came into the league at 19 years old 6'2, 220-230 and very muscular. Looks like an NFL LB/RB!!
 
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jphoss

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My first guess on why this would be, is over usage at a young age. I'm in my late 50's and when I was growing up I started playing organized baseball around 7-8 years old we played 10-12 games in about 5-6 weeks in the summer and had an all-star game. That was it. We practiced maybe once or twice a week. Then went on to another sport such as football.
Now, some of these parents have their kids playing tee ball at age 5 sometimes 4 years old!! They begin getting individual instruction around 7-8. Getting coached by personal trainers/pitching coaches sometimes 3 days a week and playing as many as 5 games on the weekends for 3-4 months. When it's too cold to play, they go indoors and practice almost year-round. That's alot work for 8-9-10 year old kids(arms)!
I can't prove it, but I believe kids are over worked/over trained and by the time they get to college and MLB they're arms are damaged.
Same thing in football. Kids train year round for football and are stronger and have put alot of punishment on their bodies.. I believe that's what happend with my son. For years, he had worked so hard to get big and fast that his ligaments and joints couldn't handle the load and his ACL snapped on a routine cut back and then tore it again making a simple step during his recovery.
Now I can't prove any of this, but why else would this be happening? I never saw the kinds of injuries we see today when I was playing. We had injuries, but it was from being hit in the knee or leg, not form just cutting or twisting. Most of the injuries were to the players that were muscled up and worked to get bigger. The loose limber, less muscular guys never seemed to get injured. JMO.
BTW, Mike Trout came into the league at 19 years old 6'2, 220-230 and very muscular. Looks like an NFL LB/RB!!
I agree the early specialization for kids is a killer. There is no reason for kids to specialize and play only one sport until they are finished with high school. Look at an athlete like Joe maurer who was the best in baseball and football. Playing multiple sports makes you a better athlete and prevents overuse of muscles tendons and ligaments before the kid even reaches puberty
 
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In speaking to MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince recently upon his retirement, surgeon Dr. James Andrews said the rash of elbow injuries can be traced back to amateur baseball.

“I started following the injury patterns and injury rates in the year 2000,” said Andrews. “Back in those days, I did about eight or nine Tommy Johns per year in high school aged and younger. The large majority of Tommy Johns were at the Major League level, then the Minor League level, then the college level and then just a handful of high school kids.

“In today’s situation, the whole thing is flip-flopped. The largest number is youth baseball. They’ve surpassed what’s being done in the Major Leagues. That’s a terrible situation.”

Andrews believes the obsession with velocity and spin at the youth level is the biggest culprit.

“These kids are throwing 90 mph their junior year of high school,” he says. “The ligament itself can’t withstand that kind of force. We’ve learned in our research lab that baseball is a developmental sport. The Tommy John ligament matures at about age 26. In high school, the red line where the forces go beyond the tensile properties of the ligament is about 80 mph.”


 
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