The Braves are considering placing Reynaldo López on the 15-day injured list due to shoulder discomfort, manager Walt Weiss told reporters (including Jesús Cano of The Athletic). The skipper added that righty JR Ritchie will be recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday to start the series finale at Wrigley Field. Martín Pérez is scheduled to start tomorrow opposite Kevin Gausman.
It’s the latest shuffle in Atlanta’s rotation, which has been in flux all year. Chris Sale and Grant Holmes have been the only constants. Pérez has been a steady hand since drawing into the rotation for good in early May, while Tyler Mahle has had an excellent seven-start run since being acquired at the deadline. That briefly looked like it’d provide some stability until Bryce Elder underwent surgery to remove bone fragments from his right knee last week.
López missed all of August with a left knee issue. He returned to the rotation last Wednesday. The Rays knocked him around for six runs across 4 2/3 innings in that start. He didn’t fare any better tonight, surrendering five runs across three innings to take the loss to the Cubs. AJ Smith-Shawver, who’d started his first five MLB outings this season, pitched five innings of mop-up relief to finish the game.
Tonight’s ugly outing pushed López’s earned run average to 4.54 on the season. He was limited to one start last year before undergoing shoulder surgery. López’s stuff was way down in Spring Training, and while it picked up in April, the Braves moved him to the bullpen by the end of that month. He has seemingly worn down a bit as the season has progressed. He averaged 92 mph on his fastball in his final start of July before going on the IL for the knee injury. That was back up to 93.5 mph last week and mostly in the 92-93 range tonight. The heater had sat close to 96 mph during López’s career-best 2024 campaign.
An injured list stint would end López’s regular season and rule him out for the Wild Card Series, which begins on September 29. Atlanta still holds a fairly comfortable 4.5 game lead on the Phillies for the division lead, but they’re now 3.5 games behind the Dodgers for the #2 seed. It looks increasingly likely that they’ll finish as the #3 seed and host the NL’s final playoff team in the Wild Card Series.
López wasn’t likely to pitch in that series regardless. Unless they have a chance to secure the first-round bye in the final weekend of the regular season, they’re likely to hold Sale back to start Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. Mahle seems the obvious choice for Game 2, which would probably leave Holmes as a Game 3 starter if necessary.
They’ll have a quick hook in any games not started by Sale, but the bullpen also feels shakier than it did early in the season. Robert Suarez hasn’t pitched in a game since late June. He’s throwing bullpen sessions and will hopefully be ready for the postseason, yet it’s fair to expect some rust. Dylan Lee has an excellent track record but hasn’t pitched well for the better part of two months. 21-year-old Didier Fuentes, an electric rookie who’ll be pitching in the postseason for the first time, may be their most reliable bridge to Raisel Iglesias.
Ritchie, Smith-Shawver and Owen Murphy are candidates to take the final couple turns through the fifth spot in the rotation. Atlanta could also reselect Elieser Hernández, whom they brought back on a minor league deal. The Braves finish the regular season with series against the Astros, Reds, and Marlins.
