The Atlanta Braves' 2025 rotation started the season with a healthy level of uncertainty after losing both Charlie Morton and Max Fried in the offseason. While the return of Spencer Strider was expected to help stabilize the rotation, the rest of the pieces remained a bit of a mystery. Fast forward, well over two months later, and it remains a question mark.
Since the season started, the team has lost both Reynaldo Lopez and AJ Smith-Shawver to injury. The future of both starters remains murky as the Braves now attempt to piece a struggling rotation together. Only Chris Sale has been consistently reliable, with the rest of the team's starters defined as streaky.
For Smith-Shawver, the news isn't great with the latest update offering that the pitcher won't know the extent of the surgery until it happens. Whether it is a full Tommy John or if it will just be an internal brace is still unknown. This goes a long way in explaining the team's silence around a player who was just starting to establish himself at this level.
AJ Smith-Shawver's Latest Injury Update Paints an Upsettingly Bleak Picture
Smith-Shawver had an up-and-down 2025 season but was showing flashes of becoming a top-of-the-rotation arm. There is no debating that the starter has the talent to become a future ace and was on his way to helping stabilize the Braves' rotation. However, there are now a lot of questions about what the young pitcher is going to be when he is able to return.
There isn't any question that the entire 2025 season is gone for the pitcher, as well as a portion of 2026. With the operation yet to occur and already being in June, the starter simply doesn't have enough time to recover for next season and be relied on. This continues to add question marks as to how Atlanta is going to piece together the rotation, not only for the rest of this season but moving forward.
If the team hadn't fallen so far out of contention, it would be easy to argue adding an arm ahead of this year's trade deadline. However, in what appears to be a lost season, the team simply can't spend resources without at least a bit of hope that things can turn around. For Smith-Shawver, this is a brutal setback to a promising career. Braves fans can only hope that the pitcher can find his way back at the end of the 2026 season.