Joe Jimenez closes for the rest of the 2025 season; Schwellenbach is unlikely to return
Joe Jimenez It was closed last week due to last week’s throw due to his surgical repair of sore left knee. This seems to be the main obstacle to Jimenez’s chance to return to action before the end of the 2025 season, and brave manager Brian Snitker confirmed to reporters today, including Gabriel Burns of Atlanta Magazine, that Jimenez does not really come back in this year’s action. There seems to be an injured starter Reynaldo Lopez and Spencer Schwellenbach As Snitker’s suspicious right-hander will be activated from the 60-day injury roster before the end of the season.
For much of 2024, after knee aches, Jimenez underwent surgery in late October to resolve the damage that ended up being quite significant. Jimenez has a recovery time of 8-12 months, so a complete loss of season is always possible with the right hand. When Jimenez started the bullpen meeting in early July, some hope was raised, but he couldn’t advance to the minor league recovery phase, and then his knees started to bother him again. It doesn’t seem like the problem is just discomfort, so Jimenez should still be fully healthy until spring training begins.
Jimenez received a new performance from Relief in Atlanta in the 2022-23 offseason trade after six most inconsistent seasons were inconsistent with the Tigers’ season. Jimenez released a 3.04 ERA in 56 1/3 innings against the Braves in 2023, earning him a three-year, $26mm extension, and he will remain in Atlanta until he is about to test the free agent market. The first season of this extension gave Jimenez a 2.62 ERA in 2024’s 68 2/3 frames, making his total 2.81 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate and 7.2% walking rate, over 125 innings, wearing a brave uniform.
Jimenez’s knee surgery ended up being a harbinger of the season when Atlanta pitchers were injured. Spencer Strider (He started a year from IL’s recovery from internal support surgery) is the only member of the Braves’ first choice spin and is currently healthy, like Lopez, Schwerenbach, AJ Smith-ShawverAnd dominate the NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sales All are on the 60-day injury list. Sales is the only group that will likely be pitching again in 2025 as he will start his second mini-league rehabilitation work on Sunday as he tries to return from a thoracic fracture.
Smith-Shawver had surgery for Tommy John in June, so his entire 2026 season could be in danger, as well as the rest of his 2025 campaign. It’s no surprise that both Lopez and Schwellenbach were informally excluded, because with the Braves not being out of the playoffs, it’s worth having any pitcher play out some pointless situations in late September.
There was only one start before Lopez had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in early April. It was a closure time of 8-12 weeks, and while Lopez started throwing, he didn’t have time to lift his arm to complete the entire starter’s workload. Burns suggests that if Lopez can return, that will only play a relief role, which can happen only if Braves considers bringing the right-hander back to the bullpen after his injury. Lopez returned to his full-time starter role in 2024 when he was healthy (135 2/3 IP 1.99 ERA), but he handled forearm and shoulder issues late in the season, and before the surgery, his 2025 season completely ruined the surgery.
Some of his rotation troubles helped the paper when Schwellenbach produced a 3.09 ERA on this year’s 110 2/3 innings, but the injured bug also bit him in the form of a small right elbow fracture in early July. He was transferred almost immediately to 60-day Illinois State University after the injury and was only eligible to return until the first week of September, but it seems like the right-hander would jump early in the offseason.
In better injury news, Ronald Acuna Jr. IL can be activated from 10 days as early as tomorrow. Acuna hasn’t competed since suffering from calf fatigue on July 29, but the star outfielder seems to be on the verge of a relatively quick return. Despite Acuna being restricted by 55 games due to a calf injury and he recovered from the ACL that ended his 2024 season prematurely, the former NL MVP still appears as a superstar, hitting .306/.429/.577 in 238 set appearances.
