Braves get promising news on Raisel Iglesias injury

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Braves get promising news on Raisel Iglesias injury

Originally posted on SportsTalkATL | By Chase Irle | Last updated Apr 21, 2026 7:58 PM ET

The latest member of the Atlanta Braves to hit the IL is closer Raisel Iglesias, who is dealing with shoulder inflammation that surfaced over the weekend.

If you remember, Robert Suarez handled the ninth inning on Saturday against the Phillies. When asked about it, manager Walt Weiss gave a somewhat eyebrow-raising explanation, saying Iglesias was unavailable after tweaking his shoulder while sleeping.

At the time, it felt like a non-story, especially when Iglesias returned Sunday and locked down the sweep, which made it seem like nothing more than a minor hiccup.

But fast forward a couple of days, and the situation has clearly evolved. Iglesias is now headed to the 15-day IL, confirming it’s more than just a bad night’s sleep.

The encouraging news is that his MRI came back clean. The Braves even considered keeping him active and simply giving him a few days to rest, but ultimately decided against it — a smart move, especially this early in the season.

Raisel Iglesias returned to Atlanta for a MRI that showed no structural damage. The Braves are hopeful his stay on the IL will be a short one. They debated about just resting him for 4-5 days, but didn’t want to go short in the bullpen
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) April 21, 2026

Raisel Iglesias has been quite literally perfect for the Braves to begin the season — 5-for-5 in save opportunities without allowing a single run. Pair that with Robert Suarez’s 0.94 ERA, and Atlanta has arguably the most lethal one-two punch at the back end of games, a huge reason for their 16–7 start.

That’s exactly why there’s no reason to take any chances right now. It’s still April, and the Braves have already built a comfortable lead over both the Mets and Phillies. Pushing a veteran closer through even minor shoulder discomfort would be unnecessarily risky.

The expectation should be that he’s back in a couple of weeks — and in the meantime, the Braves are more than equipped to hold things down late in games.

This article first appeared on SportsTalkATL and was syndicated with permission.

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