Who Strider turns to when he has information overload

This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Before explaining how Maggie Strider helped Spencer Strider, we’ll let the Braves pitcher provide some background on his wife.

“This is a woman who didn’t know how many strikes were in a strikeout a few years ago,” Strider said. “When she says something about baseball, I listen.”

Strider has talked about battling some mechanical issues throughout this season. But Maggie’s message had nothing to do with balance, release point or stride. Having known her husband since their days together at Christian Academy of Knoxville, she understood he could occasionally be affected by information overload.

“I value input, sometimes too much,” the Braves hurler said. “I like to feel like I have everything at my disposal, and I can learn from everything that's around me. But, you can get to the paralysis by analysis very quickly.”

So, when Strider became the latest elite pitcher to hit an inevitable pothole during the first half of this month, Maggie provided her valuable advice.

“Her message was, 'Don't listen to everybody that tells you something,'” Strider said. “Coming from her, that means a lot. She usually knows what she's talking about.”

Through his first 12 starts, Strider posted a 2.97 ERA and a 2.59 FIP, which indicated he was pitching better than his ERA might suggest. Then he allowed eight runs over four innings to the Mets on June 8 and three home runs over five innings against the Tigers on June 14.

After Strider exited that outing in Detroit, television cameras showed Braves manager Brian Snitker making sure his young pitcher knew days like these were unavoidable, even for the greatest of pitchers.

“My message to anybody is, ‘You are really good at what you do and everybody is going to struggle because this game isn’t easy,'” Snitker said. “There's nobody insulated from rough times in this business when you play for six months in a row.”

Well, three months into Strider’s first full season as a big leaguer, he appears to be just fine. He halted his brief skid by limiting the Phillies to one run over six innings on Tuesday night. He leads the Majors with a 14.46 K/9 rate and he ranks third in the Majors with a 2.89 xFIP. This latter stat projects he’ll be more efficient than he’s been while posting a 3.93 ERA through his first 15 starts.

“You’re going to have bad outings and bad stretches,” Strider said. “I think it’s how you bounce back and learn from them is what matters.”

Maggie isn’t the only Strider providing intelligent analysis.