A big reason why the Atlanta Braves have been so heavily linked to the top of the starter trade market ahead of the deadline is due to the litany of injuries to their rotation. While Spencer Strider and Hurston Waldrep's arm troubles certainly haven't helped, a major factor has been that the Braves were relying heavily on Spencer Schwellenbach in their 2026 rotation before he needed surgery to fix a bone spur in his elbow.
As recently as last week, there was a good bit of pessimism regarding Schwellenbach’s ability to pitch again this season. A big reason why there was little information available on his rehab progress was that manager Walt Weiss had not heard that Schwellenbach's rehab had escalated to throwing bullpens down in Florida.
Thankfully, we got good news on Schwellenbach about 72 hours before the upcoming trade deadline. In comments to the media, Schwellenbach revealed that he did throw four bullpens in Florida at the Braves' spring training complex. Those bullpens went well, and he should face live hitters as soon as he throws three more bullpens. Assuming all goes well, Atlanta could add another starter late in the season even after the trade deadline passes.
Braves get very promising Spencer Schwellenbach injury update, but Atlanta still can't bank on his return
All the news on Schwellenbach was good, and that is exciting. While he hasn't fully ramped up his velocity or thrown all of his pitches yet, Schwellenbach is already throwing harder than he was when his elbow started giving him trouble this spring. We don't know exactly what his stuff will look like once he is full go, but Schwellenbach is definitely trending in the right direction.
The idea that Schwellenbach could return in September is certainly comforting. It is also a possibility that the Braves can't count on. At best, Schwellenbach could return sometime in the last month of the regular season, and that is anything but certain. With Atlanta's rotation depth behind Chris Sale appearing to be questionable at best, the idea that the Braves shouldn’t aggressively pursue a starter or two at the deadline shouldn't even be entertained.
In the best-case scenario, Schwellenbach's rehab goes well, and he rejoins a Braves rotation that has a couple capable new faces, and Atlanta will look very strong heading into the postseason. If not, they will at least be covered for the last couple of months of the season. The one thing they can't do is use the assumption that things will work out as an excuse for inaction at the trade deadline, because we have already seen what happens this year when you assume exactly that.
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