Unfortunately for the Atlanta Braves, the injury bug that plagued them last season has carried over at least somewhat. The Braves already had to weather the short-term loss of Sean Murphy which they appear to have behind them now that he has been activated, but now they have Reynaldo Lopez to worry about.
Lopez was successfully converted back to being a starter after signing with the Braves before the 2024 season, but this spring has brought nothing for issues for the hurler. His velocity was down a tick during camp and it did not take long for Atlanta to put him on the IL with shoulder troubles. A couple days later, it was announced that he needed arthroscopic surgery and would be out a while.
Exactly how long he would be out was the real question and that wouldn't be answered until the surgery actually happened. Well, Lopez had his procedure on Tuesday and manager Brian Snitker provided an update that featured some less than great news as Lopez is going to be down for a while.
Reynaldo López had arthroscopic shoulder surgery today, a “clean-up” procedure, Snitker said. He won’t throw for 12 weeks, then wi be re-examined. #Braves hope he’ll pitch again late in the season.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) April 8, 2025
Braves will be without Reynaldo Lopez for a while as he is shut down from throwing for at least 12 weeks
If you are looking for a silver lining here, it is that it seems as though the procedure went off without a hitch and all that was required was a bit of clean-up in Lopez's ailing shoulder. Given the nature of shoulder injuries, there was a real chance that the surgeon could have found something much worse and a return to the mound in 2025 would have been impossible.
However, that Lopez is going to be shut down from throwing at all for 12 weeks is not ideal. That puts the Braves starter not even starting a throwing program until July at minimum and that is if everything goes right. If Lopez needs another couple months of rehabbing and getting built back up, Atlanta will be lucky to get him back in September which isn't a crazy timeline for this sort of thing.
This means a few things for the Braves. One, they are going to need some of their internal options like AJ Smith-Shawver, Hurston Waldrep, or even Drue Hackenberg to step up in a hurry. Failing that, it is a lock that the Braves will be combing the trade market hard at the trade deadline for starting pitching help. Unfortunately, the entire league is going to be doing that, so landing a quality starter to help for the stretch run could be easier said than done.