Braves Confirm Star Pitcher had Reconstructive Elbow Surgery; Will Miss All of 2024

The Atlanta Braves confirmed this morning that star pitcher Spencer Strider had reconstructive surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and will miss the remainder of the 2024 season.

This is Strider’s second UCL reconstruction – he previously had the procedure done in 2019 while at Clemson University.

The surgery was performed on Friday by Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas, TX, who commonly does Atlanta’s elbow surgeries for their pitchers. Meister, who is the team physician for the Texas Rangers, is the new go-to surgeon for elbow procedures with the retirement of legendary surgeon Dr. James Andrews in January of this year. Meister’s performed surgeries on star pitchers Sandy Alcantara, Shane McClanahan, and Jacob deGrom in the last year and did the Tommy John surgeries for current Braves pitchers Ian Anderson, Tyler Matzek, and Huascar Ynoa, as well as prospect Blake Burkhalter and former Braves pitcher and current San Francisco Giants reliever Luke Jackson.

Atlanta confirmed that the surgical option done was the “internal brace” method that’s risen to popularity in recent years, would could potentially have a shorter recovery time and (theretically) will give additional support to the arm once the pitcher returns to play.

In a traditional UCL reconstruction, a donor ligament – coming from either the patient’s forearm or leg or from a cadaver – is sewn into the elbow joint and weaved in a figure-eight pattern. The ligament heals and the pitcher returns to action in fourteen to eighteen months, depending on how the rehab progresses.

The internal brace procedure, which is a newer alternative that’s become widely adopted in recent years, has been done on several major leaguers including Shohei Ohtani for his second UCL injury and Lucas Giolito, for his second. After the UCL is repaired, a tape-like suture is anchored into the humerus (the upper bone of the arm) and ulna (the forearm), which remains in place after the athlete returns to play. It will provide additional stability to the structure of the joint going forward, typically (but not always) allowing for a quicker return to play.

While full returns to play after a second Tommy John surgery are significantly less common, there are some notable MLB success stories like Texas Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi and former Braves reliever Jonny Venters, who had three Tommy John surgeries and still returned to MLB.