Spencer Strider is having an amazing rookie season. The Clemson Tiger alum is just two years removed from his college baseball career, and he is already dominating at the major league level. Through just eighty-seven innings, twenty three appearances, and twelve starts, Spencer Strider has a 6-3 record, 2.79 ERA, WHIP of 0.989, and has struckout 133 batters.
With those numbers in his rookie campaign it’s no wonder Jon thinks Strider is on his way to the Rookie of The Year award saying “I predict, I’m on record, he’s going to win the Rookie of the Year, he’s going to beat out Michael Harris for the Rookie of the Year award.” Jon also makes another prediction saying “The Braves are going to have the top two rookies in the National League.”
According to Major League Baseball the Braves have had the top two rookies for the past two months at least, Michael Harris II was named NL Rookie of the Month in June, and Spencer Strider got that same honor in July, so right now the NL Rookie of the Year award race seems like it’s a friendly battle between Braves teammates in Michael Harris II and Spencer Strider.
Now, even though Strider has had a great regular season during his rookie campaign, where does he rank among the rest of the Braves starting pitchers? Jon Chuckery gave you his answer to that question Wednesday night on The Jon Chuckery Show.
There’s no doubt that the Braves’ ace is Max Fried. Fried has had another great year for the Braves with a 10-3 record, 2.58 ERA, and 122 strikeouts in 132.1 innings pitched. The southpaw also made his first All-Star team this year, and after following up his World Series clinching performance in Game Six of the 2021 Fall Classic Max Fried has cemented himself as the Braves ace.
Now, you might be thinking just because of his experience, veteran leadership, and solid season that Charlie Morton is the Braves second best pitcher, but Kyle Wright has undoubtedly been the Atlanta Braves second best pitcher in 2022 behind Max Fried. Kyle Wright this season has a 2.93 ERA, 120 strikeouts in 122.2 innings pitched, and oh yeah his 13-4 record leads the National League in wins and is only one win behind Justin Verlander’s MLB leading 14 wins. It might’ve taken Kyle Wright some time to learn how to win at the major league level, but I think it’s safe to say he’s got it figured out, and he is now the Atlanta Braves second best pitcher.
Max Fried is the ace, Kyle Wright is easily second, so who is third? Is the veteran Charlie Morton the Braves’ third best arm? What about the young cold-blooded Ian Anderson? Nope. Jon believes Spencer Strider’s consistency and progression this year has put him over Anderson and Morton saying “Right now could you argue that he’s not your third best pitcher? Given Ian Anderson is up and down this year, even given Charlie Morton is up and down this year, if you look at his last four or five starts it’s been like one good one not so good one good one not so good.”
Jon also says “He’s blowing people away and he’s mowing people down, and it feels like he goes out there and just completely overpowers batters, it doesn’t matter if you’re a good hitter bad hitter, or whatever like that it feels like he completely overpowers your hitters in there.”
Ian Anderson has struggled this season after being rock solid his first two years in the league. In 2022 Anderson has a 4.99 ERA, leads the league in walks with 49, only has 90 strikeouts through 101 innings pitched, and has not had any consistency to his game this season. Charlie Morton seems to be getting better as the season goes on. After a rough start to this season Charlie Morton has strung together a few good performances in a row as of late, but even more recently than that like Jon said has been inconsistent. However, Charlie did pitch a gem Wednesday afternoon against the Phillies in a losing effort.
It’s not just Strider’s gas that makes him the third best pitcher it’s his consistency as well that Charlie Morton and Ian Anderson haven't had this season, and right now in a playoff series do you want Max Fried, Kyle Wright, and Spencer Strider as your first three starters, or do you want Ian Anderson or Charlie Morton getting the ball in game three?