Braves’ All-Star pitcher gets injury timetable after shoulder surgery

The Atlanta Braves are off to a miserable start to the 2025 season. They are 1-8 with a big series against division rival Philadelphia Phillies on deck. Their big offseason acquisition, Jurickson Profar, has been suspended for PED use, Spencer Strider is still rehabbing, and Ronald Acuña Jr has not played. As if it could not get worse, Reynaldo Lopez suffered an injury in the Braves’ first series of the season. The Athletic’s David O’Brein has the latest on his timeline.

“Reynaldo López had arthroscopic shoulder surgery today, a ‘clean-up’ procedure, [Braves manager Brian] Snitker said,” O’Brein reported. “He won’t throw for 12 weeks, then [will] be re-examined. Braves hope he’ll pitch again late in the season.”

If this timeline stays true, Lopez will return to throwing in early July. After getting ramped back up and rehabbing the injury, the Braves will be lucky to see him before mid-August. With Strider’s form unknown coming back from a UCL injury and Max Fried gone, this is brutal news.

Thankfully for the Braves, not all of the pressure is going to be on Chris Sale. Spencer Schwellenbach made the team out of camp at 24 years old and has not allowed a run in two starts. 22-year-old AJ Smith-Shawver has struggled to start the season, and he will need to improve for this team.

Despite the poor start to the Braves’ season, they are far from eliminated from playoff contention. They enter Tuesday’s action with a 70% chance of making the postseason, per Fangraphs. But that is significantly less than their 92.5% chance that they started the season with. Without Lopez, those chances will go down even more.

The Braves host the Phillies for three games starting on Tuesday with an elite pitching matchup. Defending NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale and Zach Wheeler toe the slab in Atlanta.