What in the wide world of sports has happened to Spencer Strider?

The Atlanta Braves right-hander was light’s out in April, but cooled off in May and has been downright awful in June. What had the makings of a Cy Young-contending season for the second-year fireballer has given the National League East Division leaders another question mark in the starting rotation.

Strider’s latest start came on Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers. While the start netted Strider his seventh win of the season, he lasted only five innings. He allowed seven hits and five runs. Even though the offense provided Strider with seven runs, he couldn’t make it into the sixth inning. It was due in large part to the three home runs by the Tigers and Strider’s 94 pitches.

It has continued a concerning trend for phenom. He is getting hit hard (seven home runs allowed in the last five games) and has only pitched past the sixth inning just once this year.

Strider is still striking out batters at an amazing clip. Strider leads Major League Baseball with 127 strikeouts and is averaging an astounding 14.5 strikeouts per nine innings, which would be the most in baseball history.

The problem now is Strider is not just recording strikeouts, he is surrendering hits, specifically home runs, which has led to his ERA ballooning from 1.80 after five starts in April to 4.12 after 14 starts. I was in attendance for Strider’s game against the New York Mets on June 8. While the game was fun and exciting (Ozzie Albies smacked a walk-off three-run dinger to win 13-10), it was not enjoyable to see Strider get lit up like a Christmas tree by an average hitting Mets team.

He surrendered eight hits and eight runs in four innings, including two home runs. Strider struck out eight but couldn’t hold a first-inning 3-0 lead the offense had exploded for.

It appears that opposing batters have finally locked in on Strider and his blistering fastball. He still will record his share of strikeouts but will continue his short outings if he can’t figure out how to get batters out with greater regularity.

The Braves need his arm, especially with Max Fried and Kyle Wright currently on the injured list, in a rotation that’s consisted mostly of youngsters. What was once a sure thing is now a major question mark for the Braves.