There’s been a lot of talent on the injured list for the Atlanta Braves this year. Whether it be Ronald Acuña Jr. missing the start of the season due to his injury rehab or Chris Sale hurting himself fielding a ground ball, there are plenty of instances you can look at as evidence of the Braves’ season being undone by untimely injuries to key players on the roster.
And while some of them have come back this year, there’s a good portion of them who are currently on the injured list with murky timelines. According to manager Brian Snitker, that could be the team’s reality for the rest of the year.
Braves’ plan for injured pitchers seems to be in flux after team’s struggles
Earlier this week, Snitker spoke to the media about the rehab plans for injured pitchers Joe Jiménez, Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach and Reynaldo López, all of whom could return at some point in August or September.
Emphasis on “could”.
“That’s a good question,” Snitker said when asked about them returning, per The Athletic’s David O’Brien. “I think all those guys, when they’re working to get back, if they finish the year pitching, it’s huge for them going into the offseason. If we get them back — I hope we do, and I know all them guys do — it’s big for a guy to go into the offseason not in rehab. I’ve seen over the years, that’s a big difference when you go into a normal offseason. Because they can do all their normal stuff and prepare for spring training and then have a normal spring training, and then they’re ready to go.
Both sides of the argument make sense. On one hand, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to have any of them come back at the end of the season if the Braves aren’t playing for anything, since every game comes with an inherent injury-risk, especially for pitchers. There’s also a case for them coming back and being able to have a normal (and healthy) off-season, however.
Of those four, Jiménez and Sale have the best chance to be in a position to return before the end of the season since they’ve both begun throwing the ball again. They’re both a ways away (Jiménez is throwing bullpens and Sale is playing catch), but there’s still two months left in the season. That’s a lot of time to rehab.
There’s been next to no updates on López since he underwent surgery in April so he’s running out of time to be able to work on his rehab, while Schwellenbach’s return will likely depend on how his elbow responds whenever he picks a ball up again.
If none of those starters return, it’ll be interesting to see how the Braves finish up their rotation as the season goes on. Their current rotation is Spencer Strider, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder, Joey Wentz and Davis Daniel. Not exactly a group of world beaters.
If the Braves were in the postseason hunt, all four of those injured pitchers returning would be a case of “when,” not “if.” But, like so many things this year, losing seems to have changed the Braves’ thinking.
