Spencer Strider Is Doing Something as a Rookie That No Pitcher Has Done in Baseball History

What Spencer Strider has done this season is absolutely unreal.

After rising through every level of the minors before making it to the big leagues for two appearances in his first season of professional baseball last year, Strider has put up unthinkable numbers in his rookie campaign. He already became the fastest pitcher ever to 200 strikeouts — beating out a guy you may have heard of named Randy Johnson — set the Braves' single-game strikeout record with 16 and seems to break another rookie strikeout record every start.

Advertisement

And now that Strider has amassed 200 strikeouts, he currently sits as the only pitcher in baseball history with at least 200 strikeouts and fewer than 100 hits allowed in a season. Strider has given up 86 hits and may only get two more starts in the regular season, depending on how the Braves manage their rotation the next couple weeks heading into the postseason. He's allowed more than six hits in just one of his 20 starts, so it seems more than plausible he stays under the century mark.

The Braves have had some must-watch rookies over the last few years as guys like Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley made their ways to the big leagues, but watching Strider pitch is as electric as any of those guys. Hell, Atlanta has another rookie in Michael Harris who would be a shoo-in for NL Rookie of the Year in any other season — .308/.347/.537, 18 HR, 59 RBI in 102 games — and he has to deal with Strider putting up numbers like this.

Every team in baseball should be trying to poach anyone it can from the Braves' scouting department.