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FLIPPIN BATS WITH BEN VERLANDER

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The bad news was expected this past weekend, but Spencer Strider’s elbow injury will sting the Atlanta Braves for the rest of the year.

Strider’s season — one built on promise and prestige with the young right-hander dubbed by many the best starting pitcher in baseball and the National League Cy Young favorite — is over. Technically, Strider’s 2024 campaign ended the moment the Braves discovered that his ulnar collateral ligament was damaged, which came soon after he flagged the discomfort in his pitching elbow in early April. 

After long days of silence from Atlanta, the club finally announced the expected — and the worst — Saturday: Strider had already undergone elbow surgery and will miss the remainder of the year.

The injury does have a silver lining, however. That Strider was able to undergo the less-invasive internal brace procedure, rather than Tommy John surgery, indicates his UCL did not fully tear. Strider already had Tommy John surgery in 2019 while pitching for Clemson. Pitchers with less severe elbow damage, including partial UCL tears, are better candidates for the internal brace procedure, which has a shorter recovery time than Tommy John. 

In layperson terms, if Strider was forced to undergo a second Tommy John surgery, there was a greater chance of him missing the majority of 2025. Conversely, the Braves are optimistic Strider will return to the mound closer to the start of next season. 

Now, all eyes are on Atlanta to see how the club navigates losing the best strikeout pitcher in the game. There is no copy-and-paste replacement for Strider, not in MLB and certainly not on any level within the Braves’ organization. But it does help that the team, still flashing the best record in the NL East, has pitching options in the minor leagues and the offense, unsurprisingly, is the best in baseball. 

While reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. continues searching for his first home run of the season, the rest of the Braves offense has compiled the highest wRC+ (125) in MLB through the first two-plus weeks of the season. No lineup can be counted on more to lift its starting pitcher out of a shoddy start. And every fifth day, at least until the trade deadline, there will be more pressure on this offense to put up crooked numbers and support whoever is filling in for Strider. 

After winning the NL East six years in a row, the Braves are mostly taking care of business without fully clicking to start 2024. There’s still every reason to believe they will qualify for the postseason without their ace. It’s not inconceivable that when Strider returns to the mound in 2025, he’s pitching for the reigning world champions. That’s how strong the roster construction is in Atlanta. For now, the Braves’ record has allowed general manager Alex Anthopoulos more time to consider internal options for the starting rotation.

The veteran-laden group has stuff to figure out, as well. 

Max Fried, the 2022 NL Cy Young runner-up who will enter free agency this offseason, is most concerning after surrendering 11 earned runs in 11.1 innings (8.74 ERA) over his first three starts. The southpaw’s lengthy track record suggests he’ll turn things around. Chris Sale, meanwhile, is registering whiffs and, most importantly, is still intact and healthy. Charlie Morton merits further monitoring after two bad starts following a good one against the hapless White Sox. Reynaldo López (0.75 ERA) has been Atlanta’s best starter.

Who’s headlining Strider’s possible replacements? The guys that López defeated in a spring competition for the fifth starter spot. 

There’s right-hander Bryce Elder, who earned an All-Star nod last year after beginning the season in Triple-A. Elder recorded a 2.97 ERA in his first 18 starts of 2023 before fading in the second half. There’s also top organizational prospect AJ Smith-Shawver, who competed with López and Elder in spring. The 21-year-old righty has coughed up six earned runs in just three innings (two starts) at Triple-A Gwinnett, so it’s likely the Braves let him continue throwing in the minors before they give him an injury-induced promotion.

In general, the Braves at this early juncture of the season have the benefit of waiting until July’s trade deadline to fully commit to Strider’s substitute. As long as Atlanta is still leading the NL East, which is no sure thing with the Phillies looking to snatch the division crown, the rotation can dabble with its depth, implant a revolving door with the No. 5 starter, and hope for the best. 

That strategy will likely strain the Braves’ bullpen, a relief unit that’s ranked 14th in ERA (4.06). But if even one of those depth options works out, Anthopoulos can completely avoid picking up a pitcher in the summer. If not, the Braves can tap into their farm system to beef up the rotation at the deadline. 

A lot could change over these next few months, but it’s still good to be the Atlanta Braves. Despite a 5.50 rotation ERA that ranks 27th in MLB, despite Acuña sporting a .712 OPS through 14 games, Atlanta leads its division and has the third-best winning percentage in the NL. While the Strider injury is a loss for baseball, it’s not grounds to count the Braves out of the title chase. It’s not even a cause for concern about their immediate future. 

They earned the benefit of the doubt long ago. And their roster provides more reason(s) to believe they might still be inevitable.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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Astros ace Justin Verlander pitched four innings Saturday night for Double-A Corpus Christi in what is expected to be his final minor league rehab outing before rejoining Houston’s rotation.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner gave up six runs — five earned — and seven hits against the Frisco RoughRiders, a Texas Rangers affiliate. He struck out three, walked one and threw 51 of 77 pitches for strikes.

The 41-year-old Verlander opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder.

Verlander was charged with two wild pitches and two pitch-clock violations.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers received some special footwear Saturday, courtesy of Kobe Bryant’s widow.

On the eighth anniversary of Bryant’s last NBA game, Vanessa Bryant gave members of the Dodgers exclusive sneakers in a team color scheme from the late basketball star’s signature Nike line.

The club posted a thank-you message to Vanessa Bryant with photos of the sneakers on social media, and shared video on Instagram of players opening their new Nike Kobe 6 LA Dodgers PE shoes.

Betts said he was going to wear them every day, and manager Dave Roberts said: “These are ridiculous. I’m going to rock these with Mamba pride.”

Bryant scored 60 points for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Utah Jazz at home in the last game of his career on April 13, 2016, often referred to as Mamba Day in a nod to his Black Mamba nickname.

He died in a helicopter crash at age 41 on Jan. 26, 2020.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Twins shortstop Carlos Correa was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday, a day after sustaining an oblique injury in Minnesota’s 8-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

Correa was hitting .306 with a homer and four RBIs in 11 games and had an .876 OPS. The two-time All-Star was replaced on the 25-man roster by catcher Jair Camargo, who was hitting .268 with two homers in 11 games for Triple-A St. Paul.

Willi Castro is expected to get most of the playing time at shortstop. He is hitting .103 but got the final out Friday night after switching to the mound.

The Twins made two other roster moves on Saturday. They selected the contract of right-hander Matt Bowman from St. Paul and designated righty Michael Tonkin for assignment. Bowman pitched six scoreless relief innings in Triple-A while Tonkin struggled for both the Mets and Twins early in the season.

Minnesota also recalled righty Simeon Woods Richardson from St. Paul to serve as the 27th man in Saturday’s doubleheader. Woods Richardson, who made his major league debut at Comerica Park on Oct. 2, 2022, will face Detroit’s 27th man, righty Matt Manning, in the second game.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Earlier this week, I made it clear that I wholeheartedly believe the epidemic of injuries we have seen among MLB pitchers in recent years, and especially so far this season, is mainly due to how velocity and spin rate are overemphasized among all levels of the game in this current era, and any attempt to blame the pitch clock is a pathetic excuse.

But I never pitched in the big leagues. I’m only related to one of the best to ever do it in this era, who had his own thoughtful comments about this issue this week after a rehab start he made as he battles back from an injury himself. I also have the privilege of talking weekly with another legendary pitcher, lead MLB on FOX analyst John Smoltz. 

Smoltz is extremely passionate about this subject and has been for years. His conviction was evident in our first “Saturdays with Smoltz” interview of 2024, most of which was spent on this very issue. 

The Hall of Famer has thought and spoken a lot about this topic, even during his induction speech into Cooperstown 10 years ago. Below is a transcript of our conversation — it has been edited for clarity and length.

Verlander: There have been a slew of arm injuries around the league recently, including to stars like Spencer Strider, Shane Bieber,  Framber Valdez and Gerrit Cole, and before that you got Shohei Ohtani, Shane McClanahan, Jacob deGrom, and several others. We’ve talked about this before, I’d love to dive in again and ask, what do you think is the reason behind this? Is it one particular thing you can point to? Is it a combination of things? If you had to pinpoint one thing, what would you say it is?

Smoltz: “I’ve been talking about this for 10 years, since it first started — the introduction of prioritizing high velocity, spin rate and analytics. And they may not admit it now, but their slogan 10 years ago was, ‘We’re going to put players in the best position to be successful, we’re going to give them information, we’re going to allow them to really utilize their skill set, and we’re going to keep them healthy.’ You’ve never heard anybody talk about that since. You haven’t heard anybody talk about the root cause of these injuries. Everybody comes up with these nonsense excuses that mean nothing, and they get people to look the other way, when the root cause has been going on for 10 years.

“You cannot, you will not, stay healthy if you throw the ball as hard as these pitchers are throwing it and spin it as much as they are. Now, I do not blame the players whatsoever. This is the reward system they are in. I’ve been banging this drum for so long, and people are looking at this phenomenon like it just happened. The claim that the pitch clock is the reason for this is just nonsense. Anybody who has never put a ball in their hand that talks about something they don’t know about is speaking nonsense on this issue. I will trust a pitcher who has thrown a million pitches, and when he tells me something’s wrong with the baseball four years ago, I’ll trust that because he’s got the ball in his hand, and he says he can’t get a real good grip. 

“The root cause has always been there. You cannot throw a ball at 100 mph and sustain that five, seven or 10 years. People don’t want to talk about it because they realize what they started 10 years ago has not been successful in the area of keeping guys healthy. But if I’m a young player today, my hands are tied. I’ve got to get drafted. I’ve got to get scouted. So, what am I supposed to do? I have to go to these entities that have definitely cracked the code on throwing the ball hard. 

“We’ve mastered throwing the ball hard and spinning it really, really tight. But we’ve not even come close to being able to be honest and admit that these arm injuries are not linked to that.  

“My era and the era before me, we were paid to play. We trained to have longevity, we trained for marathons. We’ve talked about this ad nauseam. And now all of a sudden, a few people come out and say the pitch clock is the reason guys are getting hurt? That’s when I can’t be quiet anymore. And that’s why I’m passionate about this. All these young players have no choice. What are they supposed to do? If the reward system is X and you don’t get punished for not pitching, then they’re going to keep trying the same thing and ask for different results to happen.

“That’s my been my biggest passion since I’ve been out of the game. I talked about it in my Hall of Fame induction speech. I talk about it everywhere with youth sports. No one is listening, because the reward system and management has not made a necessary adjustment to address it. If they’re not going to make that necessary adjustment, this will continue. Before we know it, we’re going to run out of every great arm that has ever thrown a baseball.” 

Verlander: I agree that placing the majority of the blame for this on the pitch clock is more of a shortsighted conversation than the one that needs to be had. But do you think the pitch clock has maybe accelerated this trend to any degree, or do you think it’s a nonfactor?

Smoltz: “In the scope of things, it’s a 10%, maybe 20% factor, and some people just have not adapted. But here’s the deal: Let’s say, hypothetically, we let every pitcher throw it as hard as they can and take as long as they can to throw it. First of all, the games would be five hours long. Second of all, my bet would be zero chance these guys would stay healthy anyway. 

“The reason the pitch clock came into play is because guys were taking so long to execute, and the game was suffocating. It was losing attendance and fans. So, when the pitch clock comes in — and the data shows guys weren’t even getting to 18 seconds, the reason they shaved two seconds off the limit with runners on base is data showed it wasn’t even a factor — and when three to five pitchers get out in front of it, they’re telling you something that’s about to happen that has no relevancy and data behind it. 

“I get it, and I know these guys are in a tough spot. But the pitch clock is a small spoke to the wheel, while the root cause has been there for a decade. For the past eight years, this has been a trend in the wrong direction. Now all of a sudden, something new comes along and we want to blame it on that? Sorry, that does not hold water.”

Verlander: So, John, this is the hardest question: What is the resolution? When I was in the minor leagues from 2013 to 2017, all pitchers would hear from the organization is how they need to be throwing 95 mph or harder. Teams are not even even drafting guys who can’t at least touch that speed. We want them to throw it as hard as they can — ‘look at these analytics, spin it a little bit faster doing this.’ And that’s how they get up to the big leagues and have temporary success and then get paid. They’re incentivized to do it, but then they’re getting hurt doing it. So, what do we do?

Smoltz: “Inevitably, there will be a rule change that affects philosophy on this, meaning the game has changed, because rule changes have caused clubs to either decide to change the way they play or not. That’s really what’s going to end up happening because, nothing has really shown that this issue going to self-correct. 

“This is all on management. I’m sorry, but it is. It’s all on management and what they want out of their players. If they think that there’s enough arms, that they can suffer the injury rate that’s happening, they’re going to keep doing it. But in my opinion, down the road, if there’s a rule change that encourages the team to look at it and go, ‘Hey, we might have a competitive advantage if we ask our starters to go a little bit longer, so let’s look at a different training mechanism.’

“If you’re addicted to the outcome that has been what you’ve normally known forever with everything in life, if you’re addicted to strikeouts, and an ERA around 1.9 to 2.1, and you only get to pitch when you’re healthy, then that’s what’s going to happen. We have to get used to a higher ERA and more innings if that’s the way they want to keep guys healthy and in the game. 

“We know for a fact — doctors have made this absolutely a non-negotiable — you cannot throw the ball this hard for this long and be successful. These guys trained to learn to throw it harder. Now, they might have to train to learn to be in seventh gear, eighth gear. But that’s the point. It all falls on the reward system.”

Verlander: Around the time I was high school to college age is when it really became popular — just so everyone knows, throwing a ball overhand is not a natural arm movement — for people to start picking up weighted balls bigger than a baseball and start throwing them backwards, throwing them as hard as they can into a wall. And in my mind, without any statistics behind it, without knowing the science behind it or any of that, I knew this can’t be good for for your arm in the future, it just can’t be. And sure enough.

Smoltz: “There’s no doubt. Again, if I were to just somehow be a young John Smoltz trying to make the big leagues today, I would not be able to be stubborn enough to throw it 94-93 mph where I was comfortable. I would be forced to throw 98-99 mph, which, based on my body composition — I mean I’m like Gumby anyway, things fall apart — I would not have a very long career. 

“Here’s the part I don’t understand. Without naming entities and without calling people out, why is everybody so eager to crush the person who speaks truth? We’re in this world where there’s going to be people who are going to attack this conversation and say, “Well, John Smoltz is still living in the 1980s.” 

“No, I want the guys that are talented to be able to have as long a career as they possibly want. And that is just not happening today.”

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Shohei Ohtani‘s 175th home run in the majors was not only a milestone, it was record-tying.

Ohtani equaled Hideki Matsui for the most homers by a Japanese-born player with a solo shot during the first inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ game against the San Diego Padres on Friday night.

“I’m happy personally,” Ohtani said through an interpreter after the Dodgers’ 8-7 loss in 11 innings. “It’s an honor to be on the same page as him. He’s known as a power hitter, left-handed hitter like me. It’s just an honor to be able to be associated with somebody like that.”

Ohtani drove an elevated outside fastball from Michael King 403 feet into the center-field stands with one out, for his fourth homer of the season.

On Friday afternoon, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s former longtime interpreter, to undergo gambling addiction treatment in a sports betting case stemming from allegations he stole $16 million from Ohtani’s bank account to pay off debts.

In a group interview with reporters after the game, Ohtani did not take questions about the investigation.

A Dodgers public relations staff member said, “We’re talking about baseball.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game that Ohtani has handled the situation “with flying colors. He’s done a great job of just focusing on playing baseball and not letting it be a distraction for him.”

Ohtani went 3 for 5 in the 8-7 loss to the Padres in 11 innings. He is batting .457 (16-for-35) during his eight-game hitting streak, including four homers, 12 extra-base hits and seven RBIs.

“He really seemed tonight just like he always has each day. And it’s a credit to him. He’s really unflappable,” Roberts said after the game.

A two-time AL MVP, Ohtani signed a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers during the offseason after six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.

Matsui played 10 seasons in the majors from 2003-12. His first seven years were with the New York Yankees, followed by one season apiece with the Angels, Oakland and Tampa Bay.

“Mr. Matsui was a star player when I was a kid and then Shohei-san tied those numbers, it’s an amazing thing,” Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto said.

Ichiro Suzuki is the only other Japanese-born player to reach the century mark in home runs with 117.

“Obviously, it’s a big deal in the Japanese baseball industry as well. So I’m going to look forward to the next one,’ Ohtani said.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Atlanta Braves ace Spencer Strider will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the team said Saturday.

Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas, performed the procedure on Friday, using an internal brace to repair the UCL.

Strider complained about discomfort in his elbow after pitching four innings in Atlanta’s 6-5 win over Arizona on April 5. An MRI the next day revealed damage to his UCL, and the Braves prepared for the worst.

“You never expect these things to be good or just a blip on the screen,” manager Brian Snitker said last week.

Strider was 20-5 in 2023, leading the majors in wins and strikeouts (281). The right-hander had a 3.86 ERA last season.

He had a 7.00 ERA with 12 strikeouts in two starts this year.

The 25-year-old Strider joins a list of big-named pitchers who have suffered significant injuries this season.

Cleveland‘s Shane Bieber, the New York Yankees‘ Jonathan Loáisiga, Miami‘s Eury Pérez and Oakland‘s Trevor Gott are among the pitchers diagnosed with elbow injuries.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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