Atlanta Braves ace Spencer Strider picked up where he left off last season on Saturday in a scoreless outing against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Braves star wasn't just dominant, but he showed off a new pitch as well, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com:

“Strider enhanced excitement about the upcoming season as he tallied four strikeouts while completing two scoreless innings in a 6-5 win over the Rayson Saturday afternoon at Charlotte Sports Park. The Braves flamethrower was pitching with a purpose as he showed off his new curveball and also lit up the radar gun with an array of 99 mph fastballs during this mutual Grapefruit League season opener.”

The Braves pitcher spoke about being prepared for the season.

“That was a big focus for me. I wanted to come to camp in the best shape I’ve ever been in and I ever could be so that I could get honest feedback,” Strider said. “I wanted to be able to run things as close to full speed as I could.”

Earlier in the week, Strider threw his new curveball to Braves teammate Matt Olson during batting practice. He spoke about adding the pitch.

“Kind of. I mean, we’re working on a couple things, just like playing with different shapes of the slider,” Strider said. “The terminology, you know, on all this stuff — sweeper, slider, cutter, curve, slurve, who knows what anything does? I think it’s just manipulating the ball a little more, seeing what kind of different shapes I can get. More so just kind of screwing around, taking that chance right now in live BP.”

The Braves take on the Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon.