Spencer Strider is something special. He hasn’t even put together an entire season’s worth of starts, and he already owns several MLB and franchise records.
Strider became the fastest pitcher in Major League Baseball history to record 200 strikeouts last year, and he also became the first pitcher ever to record 200 strikeouts in a season without giving up 100 hits. On top of that, he broke the franchise record for most strikeouts in a single game with 16 in a September start against the Rockies, and most recently, he set the franchise mark for most consecutive starts with at least nine strikeouts, doing so in nine straight outings.
The reigning NL Rookie of the Year runner-up has the makings of a generational starting pitcher. He might already be the best arm in the league, and if he stays healthy, records will continue to fall. One more franchise mark that very well could be broken as early as this season is the record for most games in Braves history with 13+ strikeouts.
Following Monday’s performance against the Marlins — where Spencer Strider came just five outs shy of a no-hitter but had to settle for eight shutout innings with 13 strikeouts — he now has three career starts with 13+ strikeouts. That ties him with two Hall of Famers, Greg Maddux and Phil Niekro, with only Warren Spahn (4) and John Smoltz (5) having more such games in Braves franchise history.
Yesterday was Spencer Strider's 3rd career game with 13+ strikeouts.
Only John Smoltz and Warren Spahn have more such games in @Braves history.#MLB | #ForTheA pic.twitter.com/YUuG2SdqgA
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) April 25, 2023
I’m going to go out on a limb and say Strider will at least tie this record before the end of the season, assuming he stays healthy. The only thing that ever really holds him back from recording 13+ strikeouts every time he toes the rubber is his pitch count.
Very rarely is Strider ever hit hard, but in today’s game where pitchers don’t usually throw more than 100 pitches, it’s a bit more difficult to rack up 13 strikeouts. Still, Strider has already done it three times in just 25 starts. He should have at least 25 more starts between now and the end of the season, giving him plenty of opportunities to catch up to John Smoltz and potentially pass him.
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Photo: Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire
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