Report: Long Recovery Reaffirmed for Braves Reynaldo López

As expected, it's going to be a while before Reynaldo López can aid the Atlanta Braves rotation. MLB.com's Mark Bowman reported that he asked manager Brian Snitker about López being re-evaluated soon, and Snitker didn't know.

Bowman said that if López is evaluated by a doctor around the All-Star Break, which is about three weeks away, it would be about six weeks before he could even be a reliever. That puts him about two months away from being a starter again - he has to build up.

It's been known for months that López would have a long recovery

López was shut down from throwing for 12 weeks back in April as he recovers from having his shoulder "cleaned up." His procedure was arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder.  There was no structural damage reported.

We're reaching that 12-week mark, so an evaluation should be soon, but this recent update put it up in the air.

Once he returns for his evaluation, Snitker said they’ll be able to determine his range of motion and figure out a timeline from there. The Braves still haven't ruled out that he'll pitch again this season.

However, this update reaffirms that López, at best, could be back at the end of the season.

López went down after his first start of the season with right shoulder inflammation. He started on the 15-day Injured list and was moved to the 60-day list to make room on the 40-man roster April 3. 

In his lone start of the season, he allowed three earned runs on nine hits and two walks across five innings pitched. He had a career year last season, when the Braves gave him a chance to be a starter. In 26 appearances, 25 starts, he had a 1.99 ERA across 135 2/3 innings pitched.

He made his first career All-Star team, striking out the one batter he faced, Royals catcher Salvador Perez, in the bottom of the sixth inning.

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