The Atlanta Braves are not off to the start that they wanted to have this season, but there's a chance that things could turn around for them sooner rather than later. Spencer Strider has been playing with the Gwinnett Stripers as the Braves are bringing him back slowly, but his latest performance shows that he may be ready to come back, according to reporter Mark Bowman.

“Strider had 13 strikeouts and allowed one run over 5.1 IP for Gwinnett against Norfolk this afternoon,” Bowman wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Dominant? Yeah. Efficient? Hell yeah. He recorded the 13th K on his 90th pitch, which was today's target. Think he's ready?”

Strider will probably start one more game for the Stripers on April 10 depending on if everything feels right, as the goal for him was to get to 90 pitches. He recently spoke about how things are going with him as far as recovery.

“I like where things are trending,” Strider said, via Mark Bowman of MLB.com. “I still have a ton of things to work on. Not that I expected to, but I don’t feel super sharp yet. How could I? I’m not even a year off surgery. So, I’ve got to have that patience with myself and also just the humility to know that doing the thing isn’t going to make me better at it. I need to deliberately work on stuff. Pitching in Triple-A is a good opportunity to do that.”

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Spencer Strider seems close to returning to Braves

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider (99) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Boston Red Sox during spring training at CoolToday Park.
Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

Strider only made two starts last season after suffering a UCL injury. In most cases, that injury would have required him to get Tommy John surgery which would have led him to be out all of this season. Instead, Strider had an InternalBrace procedure that helped him return faster, and he started throwing off the mound ten months later.

The biggest thing for Strider now seems to be getting his conditioning back, and as his pitch count continues to grow, things are looking up for him and the Braves.

At 2-9 and standing at the bottom of the NL East standings, the Braves are going to have to get themselves out of a deep hole, and the hope is that they can find some momentum soon. They've shown some signs over the past few games that they're close to clicking, and at some point, it's going to have to result in wins for the team.