Ken Sugiura: As rehab starts, Braves' Spencer Strider driven to come back even better

ATLANTA — In one way, Spencer Strider is like the rest of us, or at least some of us. When the “check engine” light came on for his elbow, he chose to ignore it.

As the Braves ace prepared for the season at spring training in Florida, he began to feel discomfort in his right elbow but tried to not listen to what he called “those apocalyptic thoughts in my mind.”

Apocalyptic, as in a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, which would require season-ending Tommy John surgery. It would have been his second. The fact that he finished the spring with a 0.79 ERA probably helped convince him to delay a trip to the mechanic, as it were.

(Apologies if the idea of ignoring the “check engine” light is giving you anxiety. As someone who routinely ignores the “0 miles to empty” warning, I confess I do not easily feel your pain.)

It was only after his second start of the season, when his performance finally faltered, that he chose to speak up. Imaging tests revealed that, as he put it, he had a “big bone floating in my arm.” (In other words, the tip of his humerus – the upper arm bone – had broken off and had apparently lodged in the UCL.)

And, as such, Spencer met with media Friday before the Braves-Rangers game at Truist Park to give a briefing on his UCL, which has been stabilized with an internal brace. Because it wasn’t a significant tear, he was able to avoid the second Tommy John surgery of his career.

“The (UCL) tissue’s actually really good,” said Strider, his right arm in a sling. “I didn’t have a tear necessarily, but it became a problem and we had to deal with it surgically.”

With the brace surgery as opposed to the Tommy John procedure, he could be back as early as the start of the 2025 season.

“Of course, it was up to me, I’d try to pitch tomorrow,” said Strider, who actually probably would.

You’ll not encounter many baseball players — or people — quite like Strider. On top of having an uncommonly powerful right arm, he is intelligent, dedicated and purposeful. He is someone who has used the Braves’ road trips to explore the cities where they’re playing. He has been a journal keeper. He taught himself to play the guitar in his childhood and, at least as of last year, was maintaining a spread sheet that ranked indie-rock albums.

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