Clemson baseball: Spencer Strider continues to wow league in setting historic mark

Former Clemson baseball pitcher Spencer Strider continues to dominate on the mound for the defending champs, the Atlanta Braves.

Thursday night Strider hit another historic mark: Strider became the first Braves pitcher ever to have 9 strikeouts through 3 innings of work. Just when you think Strider has reached his peak, he only gets better, and shows he has control.

Not only did Strider set a franchise record last night, but he also set another impressive MLB Rookie Record as well: has had at least 11 strikeouts and fewer than 2 hits over the last two games. This is an impressive mark, as this has not been done in modern era(1900) and this also means Strider is indeed the “real deal.”

Despite Striders’ impressive and historic night last night, the Braves would go on to lose 3-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Braves took 2 out of 3 in the series.

Spencer Strider has placed himself squarely in the discussion for Rookie of the Year

So far this season Strider is 4-2 with a 2.60 ERA. He has pitched in 19 games total, 8 of them have been starts, he has had 65.2 innings of work with 102 strikeouts so far. Strider has given the Atlanta pitching staff more arm power to their lineup so far, and is proving himself in his first year in the big leagues. The Braves are 49-35 and 3.5 games behind the first place Mets. However the Braves hold the current top Wild Card spot in the National League at the moment, and are 1 game up on San Diego for the top spot.

While there is still a lot of baseball left to play, one thing is for sure, the Spencer Strider for Rookie of the Year needs to start being talked about, and not lightly. It will be exciting to continue to watch not only the Braves succeed but Spencer Strider continue to do his thing in the big leagues.