Atlanta Braves Ace Made Absurd Recent Baseball History in 2023
We are now just 15 days away from the start of the 2024 Major League Baseball season!
But as we get closer to 2024, it's time to take one last look back at the historic 2023 season of Atlanta Braves' starting pitcher Spencer Strider.
Sarah Langs of MLB.com put out a series of posts on "X" on Tuesday discussing the nature of Strider's previous season:
most swings & misses on single pitch type, 2023:
Spencer Strider, slider: 306
Spencer Strider, 4-seamer: 285
Dylan Cease, slider: 269
Luis Castillo, 4-seamer: 263
Kevin Gausman, splitter: 261
The fact that Strider had the top two swing-and-miss totals in 2023 is where the history comes in.
Per Langs:
Spencer Strider was the 1st pitcher to have EACH of the top 2 pitches in swings and misses in a season in the pitch-tracking era (2008)
Sure, the "pitch-tracking era" has only been a thing since 2008, but that's still 15 years of data that Strider finds himself at the top of. Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, Corey Kluber, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Gerrit Cole.... none of them accomplished what Strider did in 2023.
The 25-year-old Strider went 20-5 last season and asserted himself as one of the top pitchers in the game. He struck out 281 batters in 186.2 innings and pitched to a 3.86 ERA.
Lifetime, he's 32-10 with a 3.37 ERA, and he's helped the Braves get to the playoffs in each of the last three seasons (winning the World Series in 2021).
Strider will be a Cy Young favorite this year and the Braves will be a World Series favorite.
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