Braves Legends Think Wrong Pitching Attributes Are Prioritized

Injuries continue to plague the Atlanta Braves. They’re guaranteed to be without one of their top young pitchers, AJ Smith-Shawver, for most of, if not all of, the 2026 season. Arm injuries cost Grant Holmes the rest of his 2025 season, with his timetable up in the air. Spencer Schwellenbach might not return this season either. 

The team has reached the point where the entire Opening Day starting rotation is on the 60-day injured list. Only Chris Sale is without an injury that is throwing-related. 

It’s not new either. Not too long ago, they were without Spencer Strider for about a year. It’s a recurring nightmare this team faces. 

A major factor in the absence of these pitchers is injuries brought on by high velocity. Uptick in velocity is the top correlation for the uptick in Tommy John surgery. Schwellenbach’s fractured elbow came right after he hit new highs in velocity. 

One Braves' legendary pitcher has been pushing for a change in what matters because of this issue. John Smoltz has long been fed up with the cycle that baseball is in with these injuries. 

“And the one thing I’ve been saying like a broken record for 10, 15 years now is why is everybody doing the same thing over and over again and expecting pitchers to stay healthy,” Smoltz said. “Why is no one doing anything about it? The answer is they know it’s going to happen, and they’re just dealing with it. They’re not going to do anything about it.” 

Smoltz called this era one that is addicted to velocity and spin. It’s not just one team; it’s an issue plaguing all of Major League Baseball. 

The Hall of Fame pitcher had Tommy John himself during his career and threw with high velocity. Even though he had a long career with the procedure and high velocity, he’s against that being the focus because that’s not for every pitcher. 

He felt that outside of baseball, a dilemma this big would have been tackled already. 

“In any industry, you would go backwards to go forward,” Smoltz said. “You’d find out who did what, why they did it and learn from it. This is not that industry. This is not a players’ problem. Their reward system is so flawed, they have to chase it so hard. They know what’s going to happen.”

Smoltz felt that nothing is going to change until those who prioritize the velocity and speed, which were dubbed “non-baseball people by Smoltz, change the reward system. 

He’s not alone in this sentiment. Former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone expressed his frustrations in an interview with The Atlantic. 

“All anyone in the majors watches now is how damn fast a guy can throw,” he said in his interview. “Grunt and heave, grunt and heave. It’s not pitching; it’s asinine.”

Mezzone is also not a fan of the type of mechanics the pitchers have in order to achieve higher velocity and movement. 

“You see guys with these crazy-violent deliveries, spinning out on the mounds. Would I trust these guys in a game?”

It’s going to require a full culture change. Kids at the high school level are looking to push their bodies beyond what might be natural for them. If they don’t have a certain velocity by the right time in their careers, they might not make it. 

Smoltz thinks making health a positive trade would help fix the problem. He also thinks a rule change that will change the culture is coming. One potential option he alluded to is reducing the number of roster spots pitchers can occupy. 

The logic here is that fewer spots mean a team has less room for error if a player gets hurt. In turn, there is an emphasis on players who can stay healthy and so on. 

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