That article is perfect fine and is saying something completely accurate, which we all agree with: The current version of Strider cannot pitch the same way he did when he threw 100 (i.e., throw strikes and assume they can’t hit it), and he will need to actually pitch with command of his full arsenal if he is going to have success.
Yeah, the article gives an optimistic account of how that’s going, but who cares, it is spring. Let’s have hope. Hefner talks about working with Strider’s mechanics and identifying things he’s not doing but should be doing, which is literally the only thing I want to hear that Jeremy Hefner is working on.
Frankly, despite his beautiful FIP, in 2022-2023 Strider only averaged 4 bWAR per 162 games, meaning he didn’t actually get the results he “should have.” If he learns to actually pitch and the stuff rebounds even a tick, then yeah, he could be a 4+ WAR pitcher. Will that happen? Who knows, but we have no choice but to try and see.
