Braves provide ominous update on Spencer Strider after doctors visit

The Atlanta Braves entered the 2024 campaign as World Series favorites not only because of their offense, but also because of their starting rotation. The duo of Spencer Strider and Max Fried is incredibly tough to beat, and Chris Sale and Charlie Morton rounding out a postseason rotation is unfair.

Well, not all things go according to plan. Not only has Fried looked like a shell of himself in the early parts of this season, but Strider suffered an elbow injury that could change the trajectory of the 2024 campaign. The Braves obviously hope it's minor, but it's hard not to be nervous, especially after the latest update.

Ominous update on Spencer Strider gives Braves fans reason to panic

Essentially, Strider met with Dr. Keith Meisner in Dallas on Monday, and the Braves are not revealing what happened in that appointment until this weekend. It's only Tuesday, so we've got days of waiting ahead before we find out what happens.

This is obviously just speculation, but why would Atlanta delay revealing good news? In this case, good news would be anything other than Strider having to undergo Tommy John Surgery or some other major elbow procedure. If he was able to avoid surgery, wouldn't they want fans to know?

MLB.com's Mark Bowman believes that the Braves might just be waiting until Strider actually undergoes surgery to then reveal what's going on. The Braves are known to keep things under wraps until they're official, so that speculation has some potential validity to it. There's no way of knowing for sure, but Bowman might be onto something.

Perhaps the delay is to come up with some sort of plan to avoid surgery, but that sounds like wishful thinking. Again, with how the Braves operate, it's hard to read.

All Braves fans can do right now is hold their breaths and wish for the best. An update like this doesn't help boost confidence, though.