Clemson baseball: Strider to make first MLB start in Arizona

Spencer Strider’s nascent MLB career continues to progress.

Clemson baseball alum Spencer Strider will get his first MLB start Memorial Day night as the Atlanta Braves travel to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks and a tough foe in Zac Gallen.

We’ve detailed Strider’s ascent and rising star power here a couple of times, but those have all been in a relief role.  Now, he gets the nod to start at the Major League Level for the first time.

"The right-hander has been outstanding coming out of the bullpen, producing a 2.22 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 24.1 innings pitched this season. He went into Sunday tied for the second-most strikeouts by a National League reliever."

Strider, a fourth round pick (#126 overall) who had Tommy John Surgery at Clemson and pitched only 94 innings in the minor leagues before getting a shot with the Braves last September has had a remarkably fast journey to the big leagues.

Strider pitched in 26 games at Clemson from 2018 to 2019, starting 10, going 5-2 with a 4.71 ERA in 63 innings before being injured.

Strider has been dominant out of the bullpen the first two months of the season

With advanced metrics near the top of the league, including a four seam fastball that averages 98.6 MPH, Strider has dominated batters this season.

Strider’s strikeout % and fastball velocity are both in the 99th percentile for Major Leaguers, while his Whiff% is in the 93rd.

He’s allowed only 16 hits in 24.1 innings, but the issue has been the 12 bases on balls he’s allowed, which puts his BB% in the low end of the league in the 19th percentile.

Strider throws his four seam fastball 73.7% of the time and batters are hitting only .162 off the pitch.  His secondary pitch is a slider he throws 24.4% of the time and batters are batting .200 off that pitch.

Arizona is a weak hitting team with a .217 batting average, but Gallen is a good pitcher with a 3-0 record and 2.22 ERA.