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One week after Spencer Strider was diagnosed with elbow damage after undergoing an MRI, the Atlanta Braves’ ace had season-ending surgery.
The Braves announced Strider had the internal brace procedure to repair the UCL in his right elbow on Friday.
The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen noted an internal brace procedure differs from Tommy John surgery because rather than a full reconstruction of the elbow ligament, it reinforces the existing UCL “with a tape-like suture that is anchored into the humerus and ulna.”
Stavenhagen noted athletes can typically return to throwing roughly six months after undergoing an internal brace procedure.
Eric Bowman, an orthopedic surgeon and the head team physician for the Vanderbilt Commodores and Triple-A Nashville Sounds, explained to Stavenhagen MLB pitchers aren’t necessarily good candidates for the procedure:
“The problem when you get toward the majors level is the tissue isn’t as good, so you have to replace the tissue. Just putting the internal brace in there or the suture, it can help relieve some of the stress, but the bad tissue just isn’t going to heal very reliably, so that’s when you have to put the graft in.”
Boston Red Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito, who had elbow reconstruction surgery in 2012 soon after signing his first professional contract, had the internal brace procedure in March.
Giolito told Stavenhagen it was “explained to me is that the brace has a very high rate of recovery compared to getting a second Tommy John.”
Strider previously had Tommy John surgery in 2019 when he was playing for Clemson. The Braves announced on April 6 his MRI showed damage to his UCL. He left his start the previous night after allowing five earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks in four innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In his two starts this season, Strider’s fastball velocity averaged 96.3 mph. It was the lowest average velocity for the pitch in his MLB career and was down exactly one mile per hour from 2023 (97.3).
Strider finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting last season after going 20-5 with an MLB-high 281 strikeouts in 186.2 innings.
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