Breaking News: Atlanta Braves Has Succesfully Acquired Chicago White Sox $166million Senastional Rated Outfielder, 6-yrs $166million Deal Was Officially Reached Following the Blockbuster trade this morning, However…..

We’re only one week into the season and the Atlanta Braves are already dealing with their first bit of serious adversity as Spencer Strider’s UCL in his throwing arm has been damaged. We still don’t know what the extent of the damage is but either way, we’re not going to be seeing Strider on the

mound for a long time. If we’re fortunate, it could just be one of those things where he gets shut down for two months and then re-envaulted. If there’s further damage, he could be out until 2025 at the earliest. Either way, this is horrible news for Strider, the Braves and for neutral baseball observers who just enjoy having healthy star players in the game.

You really have to feel for Strider on a personal and professional level. This is a guy who appears to be as dedicated to his craft as anybody in the game is, which is really saying something when you consider how obsessive the average big leaguer is. He spent the entire offseason working to improve his game by adding a new pitch and all signs were pointing towards this potentially being a special

season on the mound for him as an individual. Strider had also been one of the loudest voices from the team when it came to talking about how this season was “World Series or bust” and how much both he and the team wanted to make things right after two straight painful endings to the season.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this for Strider from an individual standpoint, especially. This was supposed to be the year where we saw Strider continue to establish himself as one of the game’s

elite pitchers and the undisputed ace of Atlanta’s rotation. He was supposed to take that opportunity from a strong regular season and build upon it for a prospective deep run in the postseason. Instead, that uphill climb will come in the form of recovery from the damage in his elbow once again. I repeat: It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

However, that’s just how it is and that’s how it’s going to be — not just for Spencer Strider but for pitchers across all levels of baseball. As long as the human body continues to lag behind both advancements in biological science and in baseball’s focus on increasing velocity at all costs, it’s definitely how it’s going to be. Strider isn’t the first pitcher to be put on the shelf for a significant

amount of time due to elbow issues and he won’t be the last. Whether you believe it’s the focus on gaining velocity at all costs or the pitch clock playing a major factor in the uptick of pitching injuries, the point is that this is an issue that baseball as a sport will have to reckon with at some point.