Braves Break Silence on Surgery Procedure for AJ Smith-Shawver

The 22-year-old sitting out the rest of 2025 was never in doubt. The remaining question before Smith-Shawver's surgery was what type of procedure he would need on his elbow.

"Smith-Shawver won't learn whether he needs TJ or the internal brace until they open his elbow during surgery," wrote MLB.com's Mark Bowman on X on Friday night.

The Athletic's David O'Brien essentially tweeted the same report.

The internal brace generally leads to a quicker recovery time than Tommy John surgery. Because he needed Tommy John, Braves fans shouldn't expect Smith-Shawver to return before the beginning of June next year.

That's the bad news. If there's any good news, lots of pitchers have returned to full health from Tommy John surgery.

Braves fans also don't have the best of feelings around the internal brace method at the moment. Spencer Strider underwent the internal brace procedure last year for his UCL injury. Strider returned to pitch in Spring Training appearances in under a year after the injury, but his velocity has yet to fully return.

That doesn't mean Strider won't eventually get back his velocity. But the dip in his fastball speed has led to Strider not pitching at the same level in 2025 as he previously did.

During his last full MLB season, Strider averaged 97.2 mph on his fastball according to FanGraphs. The right-hander is averaging 95.1 mph with his fastball this season.

Smith-Shawver posted a 3-2 record with a 1.421 WHIP and 42 strikeouts in 44.1 innings across nine starts before his injury this season.