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Braves Place Reynaldo López On Injured List

By Darragh McDonald | August 5, 2024 at 12:40pm CDT

The Braves announced that they have recalled right-hander Bryce Elder, who will start tomorrow’s game, per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on X. To open a spot for Elder, righty Reynaldo López was placed on the 15-day injured list with right forearm inflammation, retroactive to August 2.

López last took the mound on July 28 but left after three innings and the club later announced he was dealing with right forearm tightness. He was sent for an MRI that thankfully revealed no structural damage and the club was initially hoping the righty could avoid the IL. However, he still hasn’t thrown a bullpen since that start, per David O’Brien of The Athletic on X. It seems the soreness and/or inflammation aren’t receding as quickly as hoped and so the club put him on the shelf. Though he hasn’t pitched in almost a week now, IL stints can only be backdated a maximum of three days.

While it’s good that López isn’t facing some kind of season-ending surgery, it is still a notable challenge for the rotation. After working as a reliever in recent years, López moved into a starting role with Atlanta and was having great success with a 2.06 earned run average through 19 starts. His 86.1% strand rate has undoubtedly played a role in lowering his ERA but even his 3.18 FIP and his 4.05 SIERA suggest he’s been a serviceable starter this year.

The club still has Chris Sale, Charlie Morton, Max Fried and Spencer Schwellenbach but subbing in Elder or one of the club’s other depth starters for López is going to be a downgrade. Subtracting a pitcher with a 2.06 ERA would be less than ideal for any club but Elder has a 5.67 ERA on the year. That’s only nine starts and there’s a bit of bad luck in there from his .352 batting average on balls in play and 66.6% strand rate, but even his 4.23 FIP and 4.18 SIERA are a downgrade from López.

Even if one considers the drop from López to Elder manageable, it thins out the overall depth. AJ Smith-Shawver is having a poor year with a 5.40 ERA in Triple-A while Hurston Waldrep has been hurt and just allowed four earned runs over 2 2/3 innings in his most recent Triple-A start after coming off the IL. Ian Anderson is coming back from Tommy John surgery but has a 6.23 through three Triple-A starts so far.

Atlanta came into the season as the division favorites and started the season strong but they have fallen back this summer. They were 19-9 at the end of April but have gone 41-42 since then, leaving them at 60-51. That’s still good enough for the top Wild Card spot in the National League but there are three teams within two games and then another five clubs within seven games, making the grip on a playoff berth fairly tenuous at the moment.

Ideally, López will see be able to recover fairly quickly and make this a temporary issue, but the rotation will feel on the flimsy side until then. Sale is having a great year but missed most of the past four years due to injury and is now 35 years old, while Morton is well past his 40th birthday. Schwellenbach has been doing very well but still has just 11 major league starts under his belt. Fried just returned from an IL stint due to forearm neuritis but his first start back resulted in five walks and five earned runs allowed in 3 1/3 innings despite facing a hollowed-out Marlins lineup. The fans in the Atlanta area will undoubtedly be hoping for López to make a speedy recovery and return some time in the middle of the month.

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Atlanta Braves Bryce Elder Reynaldo Lopez

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View Comments (44)
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44 Comments

  1. Buzz Saw

    11 months ago

    I think his season is done

    1
    Reply
    • Dumpster Divin Theo

      11 months ago

      Mike Dunne

      Reply
    • Dumpster Divin Theo

      11 months ago

      Done and Dunner

      Reply
    • braveshomer

      11 months ago

      Guy guys, it’s ok….We traded for Luke Jackson at the deadline to shore up our starting rotation. AA is a genius remember?

      Reply
    • Citizen1

      11 months ago

      Philly lost 6 in a row. Few teams with long losing streaks advance in the playoffs. Season over.

      Reply
  2. Skyrider123

    11 months ago

    I’m not understanding why Bryce Elder is always the one that gets the call when a pitcher is put on the IL. Shawver is sitting at Gwinnett collecting dust who has been off the IL for weeks. Looks like this injury to Lopez might be something more serious

    1
    Reply
    • braves25

      11 months ago

      AJSS pitched yesterday. Atl needs someone to start tomorrow

      2
      Reply
    • avenger65

      11 months ago

      Skyrider: That’s what I was thinking, too, that Lopez’ forearm injury might be more serious. The pitching gods definitely aren’t smiling on the Braves this year.

      1
      Reply
      • Joemo

        11 months ago

        Avenger – that’s the cost of having Sale healthy

        1
        Reply
        • braveshomer

          11 months ago

          Joemo I appreciated your comment hahaha!…Yes it’s like Black Magic, you have can this one wish but three other things in your life will parish lol

          1
          Reply
      • Ignorant Son-of-a-b

        11 months ago

        I don’t know what the Braves were expecting with Lopez, pushing him like that when he has only been accustomed to being a reliever. He’s no spring chicken either. So it wasn’t the baseball gods frowning on the Braves, the Braves did this to themselves by trying to push their luck with Lopez as a starter. Sale and Morton will likely be next to break down. (Also AA not procuring any starting pitching depth at the deadline shows he’s hoisted the white flag on this season.)

        1
        Reply
        • Benjamin101677

          11 months ago

          You realize they have skipped and used a 6 month rotation a lot? Anything at the deadline was very expensive and probably hurt the future of the Braves.

          1
          Reply
    • User 401527550

      11 months ago

      He’s getting raked in AAA. Why would they call him up?

      Reply
      • NashvilleJeff

        11 months ago

        @Mets6986: Can’t always take mil stats as the gospel. Basing an opinion on a pitcher’s mil ERA isn’t the most reliable way to judge their worth. Pretty stat lines and winning minor league games are secondary to development. The Braves in particular are well known for eliminating their young developing pitchers best pitch from their repertoire in order to force development of other pitches. AJSS has been working on breaking ball shape while throwing less fb’s. He could be a top back of the pen option right now, but the Braves are being patient w/his development to keep him as a rotation option.

        4
        Reply
        • User 401527550

          11 months ago

          I think that’s kind of my point. He’s 21 years old and highly regarded. He’s not tearing up AAA. Why ruining his development to rush him to the majors hoping for him to be what you expect him to be in a couple years?

          Reply
        • Chris from NJ

          11 months ago

          I don’t know anything firsthand about the Braves training methods in developing their young pitching but the idea of taking their best pitch out of their repertoire in order to “force” development of other pitches is counter productive. I really don’t think you’d want to force development in the first place. What if a kid has a 100 mph 4 seamer that moves are the Braves really gonna say don’t throw that anymore,you really need to learn a cutter? I can understand encouraging pitchers to learn new grips for more depth on a breaking ball or discouraging the use of certain pitches. For years teams were adverse to the splitter before it’s made the comeback it has in recent years. I really find that interesting that Atlanta a system that has produced some really good pitching, develops pitching like that.

          Reply
    • Rishi

      11 months ago

      Elder is a pitcher who has streaks. He’s been pitching much better the last start and a half (strikeout machine after poor 1 1/3 innings 2 starts ago). Seeing as it lines up with his next start why wouldn’t they? I think we need to look at the difficulty involved of being called last minute and shuttled back and forth, as well. Brewers just faced him so maybe they’ll get on him better this time. I’ve been unimpressed at times with AJ S-S personally. He has the arm tho. No doubt.

      Reply
    • Rishi

      11 months ago

      I think with groundball pitchers when they are good (1st half of 2023) we chalk it up to luck but when they are bad we do not say it’s bad luck (but the inevitable haulting of good luck). That’s a bit bias. GB pitchers are constantly gonna fluctuate between the two. But there are also times when they are just bad or good in a more general way (less luck involved). We need to look deeper into the performance and see what’s happening currently. This is one reason why they are not relied on. There is so much going on it can be hard to put any faith in recent performance. But we often throw out that good luck is as inevitable as the bad with these guys

      1
      Reply
  3. sad tormented neglected mariners fan

    11 months ago

    Come on braves who said 2021 can only happen once

    Reply
    • Ignorant Son-of-a-b

      11 months ago

      Why do people repeat ad nauseum “Flags Fly Forever drrrrr Flags Fly Forever drrrrr” idiotic and meaningless dial-a-cliche.

      Reply
      • JoeBrady

        11 months ago

        Because it is a high that can take several years to come down from.

        1
        Reply
  4. chiefnocahoma1

    11 months ago

    Can’t imagine why they didn’t just IL him immediately. Guy needs his innings limited anyway, and he has forearm issues. Were they seriously considering bringing him back without rehab?

    4
    Reply
    • kylegocougs

      11 months ago

      It doesn’t matter when you place them on the IL, placements can be “retroactive” up to a week iirc.

      Reply
      • AHH-Rox

        11 months ago

        3 days is the limit for retroactive placements. So they wasted a few days with Lopez, which probably means they thought there was a chance he could avoid the IL completely.

        2
        Reply
      • UpUpnHeaHea

        11 months ago

        Just read it is actually three days. I also thought it was longer.

        Reply
  5. Paleobros

    11 months ago

    Welp. We’ll get em next year Barves fans.

    Reply
    • Dumpster Divin Theo

      11 months ago

      Did you mean to type Braves but had Barf on your mind so mashup

      1
      Reply
  6. bhambrave

    11 months ago

    Disappointed, but not surprised,

    2
    Reply
  7. kylegocougs

    11 months ago

    Read somewhere that 19% of forearm injury recipients need TJ within a year

    Reply
    • Dumpster Divin Theo

      11 months ago

      Uh oh spaghetti oh maybe should have kept him in the pen, eh? Sox discovered he had terrific stuff but wasn’t a workhorse so managed his workload as a terrific multi inning reliever- similar to what they did with Kopech. Wonder if more teams will do that, high leverage outs from the 6th-9th a la Hader

      2
      Reply
      • NashvilleJeff

        11 months ago

        Sox didn’t know he had a vision problem that’s been corrected though, did they. Not sure I’d use anything the Sox have done as a “how to” guide.

        5
        Reply
        • Dumpster Divin Theo

          11 months ago

          Are you referring to the vision problem that the Sox diagnosed in 2021 and had corrected with Lasix surgery? Or your lack of vision in posting without “looking” into this? Would that make you what Andy Dufrain might refer to as, what’s the word, obtuse?

          Reply
        • NashvilleJeff

          11 months ago

          Troll on Theo.

          2
          Reply
    • Bucsfan4ever

      11 months ago

      Lopez has zero structural damage in his arm so no Tommy John surgery is in store for him

      Reply
    • RunDMC

      11 months ago

      …and Fried has had 2 forearm injuries in last 12 months…

      2
      Reply
  8. Dumpster Divin Theo

    11 months ago

    Bravos have a lot of consonants in their rotation

    Reply
  9. Dumpster Divin Theo

    11 months ago

    He did thus to keep his Tango and Cash compadre Luca Gio company on the DL

    Reply
  10. Dumpster Divin Theo

    11 months ago

    On the bright side….OK there is no bright side

    Reply
    • User 3594734386

      11 months ago

      SP Wells with Os disappeared down in to AA with a non structural injury/fatigue issue in July last year and resurfaced late season as an effective bullpen piece. Why not Lopez this year?!

      Reply
      • Citizen1

        11 months ago

        Braves needed starters this year after jetonising the injured pitchers who didn’t come back from 60 day Il several times. Elder has major league experience. Id prefer hunscar Noah at some point

        Reply
        • RunDMC

          11 months ago

          Ynoa has looked rusty. Anything but Winans.

          Reply
  11. MickeyTheMod

    11 months ago

    Chappell Roan is a Braves fan. Bring back the tomahawk

    Reply
  12. Simm

    11 months ago

    Braves still have hopes of winning the division with the Phillies stinking the joint up.

    I think the Braves are in real trouble. Of all the current wild card teams they are the one right now with the best chance of being the team that misses the playoffs.

    I could see a battle to the very end between the Mets, Braves and perhaps the giants for the final spot.

    1
    Reply
  13. JoeBrady

    11 months ago

    My pure guess is that Lopez comes back on 8/22 against the Phillies, or he doesn’t come back at all.

    1
    Reply

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