Braves right-hander Reynaldo López underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder today. The club had previously said they wouldn’t know his timeline until the procedure was complete. David O’Brien of The Athletic reports today that manager Brian Snitker described it as a “clean up” procedure. The righty will be shut down from throwing for 12 weeks, which will take him into July, before being reexamined. Even if he is declared healthy at that point, he would need several weeks to ramp back up, meaning a return in August or September is perhaps the best-case scenario.
The news is obviously less than ideal, as López was a key member of last year’s rotation and was slated to be in that role again this year. Atlanta signed him going into 2024 and moved him to the rotation, even though he had been pitching in relief for a while. The gambit paid off, with López posting a 1.99 earned run average over 135 2/3 innings.
Making the move from the bullpen to the rotation still presented some challenges. He had a couple of stints on the injured list last year, one due to forearm inflammation and another due to shoulder inflammation. However, he was off the IL by the end of the season and seemed fine during this year’s Spring Training. But after just one start in the regular season, he landed on the IL again with more inflammation in that shoulder.
Shortly thereafter, the club announced that the arthroscopic procedure would be required. As mentioned, they didn’t expect to have a firm timeline until it was done, though they transferred him to the 60-day IL last week when they acquired Jason Delay. That suggested they didn’t expect him back before late May, but it seems he will actually be out well beyond that.
More to come.
