Spencer Strider

Strider's 2024 season lasted all of nine innings when a bone fragment cut into his UCL and attempted to undo the repairs done by his 2019 Tommy John surgery. The good news is that this injury was not a complete tear, so Dr. Keith Meister was able to use the internal brace procedure to repair it in mid-April. The most recent pitcher to come back from this procedure was Tampa Bay's Drew Rasmussen who had his surgery in late July 2023 and returned in 2024 to pitch rather effectively, albeit for just 36 innings between Triple-A and the big leagues. Bryan Woo had the surgery in early April of 2021 and worked just under 60 innings at the lower levels of the minor leagues in 2022. The simple fact is we do not know how much Strider will be able to pitch in 2025. The internal brace procedure has a shorter recovery time than full Tommy John surgery, but someone being back on the mound and being back to their presurgery level of performance are two different matters. The risk/reward here is tremendous, but drafting Strider as a staff ace and then potentially seeing him work below 100 innings in 2025 would have trickle-down effects to many fantasy rosters. We've yet to see a starting pitcher have this surgery and resume a presurgery workload the following season. Perhaps Strider will be the first, but don't count on it. Read Past Outlooks