Braves right-hander Reynaldo López underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder today. The club had previously said they wouldn’t know his timeline until the procedure was complete. David O’Brien of The Athletic reports today that manager Brian Snitker described it as a “clean up” procedure. The righty will be shut down from throwing for 12 weeks, which will take him into July, before being reexamined. Even if he is declared healthy at that point, he would need several weeks to ramp back up, meaning a return in August or September is perhaps the best-case scenario.
The news is obviously less than ideal, as López was a key member of last year’s rotation and was slated to be in that role again this year. Atlanta signed him going into 2024 and moved him to the rotation, even though he had been pitching in relief for a while. The gambit paid off, with López posting a 1.99 earned run average over 135 2/3 innings.
Making the move from the bullpen to the rotation still presented some challenges. He had a couple of stints on the injured list last year, one due to forearm inflammation and another due to shoulder inflammation. However, he was off the IL by the end of the season and seemed fine during this year’s Spring Training. But after just one start in the regular season, he landed on the IL again with more inflammation in that shoulder.
Shortly thereafter, the club announced that the arthroscopic procedure would be required. As mentioned, they didn’t expect to have a firm timeline until it was done, though they transferred him to the 60-day IL last week when they acquired Jason Delay. That suggested they didn’t expect him back before late May, but it seems he will actually be out well beyond that.
It appears there’s still a window for López to return late in the year though it appears to be a somewhat narrow one. His rehab could perhaps become an important development this summer, as the front office will have to decide how aggressively to pursue pitching at the deadline. As they are deciding on their plan of attack, López could be working his way back to the mound if he doesn’t experience any setbacks.
For now, the club is left with Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach as the core members of the rotation. Grant Holmes and AJ Smith-Shawver earned the final two spots out of camp. When López hit the IL, Bryce Elder was recalled to replace him.
Spencer Strider seems to be getting very close to a return from last year’s UCL surgery. He tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his most recent rehab start. That will likely push one of Elder or Smith-Shawver into a Triple-A optional assignment. Holmes is out of options but could get bumped to a long relief role, with current long man Zach Thompson then being optioned. Hurston Waldrep, Davis Daniel and Dylan Dodd are also on the 40-man.
The team is presumably operating with a bit less room for error than they were expecting. They entered the season as contenders but have gotten out to a dreary 1-8 start, the worst record in baseball. They will have to climb out of that hole without their big offseason addition, as Jurickson Profar received an 80-game PED suspension. López will be on the shelf even longer than that.
Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images
