Joe Jimenez was closed off from throwing last week due to renewed pain in his surgically repaired left knee. This seemed like a big obstacle for Jimenez’s opportunities to return to action before the end of the 2025 season, and Braves manager Brian Snitker confirmed to reporters today (including Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal Constitution) That Jimenez will indeed not be in action this year. It also seems injured starters Reynaldo Lopez And Spencer Schwellenbach Throwed their last throws from 2025 because Snitker was doubtful, both right-handed people would be activated before the end of the 60-day injured list.
After a size of the knee up to and including 2024, Jimenez underwent an operation at the end of October to tackle which was ultimately quite significant cartilage damage. Jimenez received a wide recovery time frame of 8-12 months, so a completely lost season was always a possibility for the veteran-rights-handy. Some expectations were raised for a return when Jimenez started throwing Bullpen sessions at the beginning of July, but he could not continue to the Rehab phase of the Minor League before his knee started to disturb him again. It does not seem like the problem is something that goes beyond mere discomfort, so Jimenez should still be at pace to be completely healthy at the start of spring training.
After six mainly inconsistent seasons with the Tigers, Jimenez became a new level of performance after Atlanta de Reliever had acquired in an exchange in the low season of 2022-23. Jimenez placed a 3.04 ERA over 56 1/3 innings with the Braves in 2023, which earned him a three -year extension of $ 26 mm to stay in Atlanta just before he was about to test the free agent market. In the first season of that extension, Jimenez delivered a 2.62 ERA over 68 2/3 frames in 2024, giving him a general 2.81 ERA, 30.1% strikeout percentage and 7.2% walking speed over 125 innings in a Braves uniform.
Jimenez’s knee operation eventually became a harbinger for an injury-designed season for the pitching staff of Atlanta. Spencer steps (who started the year at the IL recovering from an internal brace operation) is the only member of the first choice rotation of the Braves that is currently healthy, such as Lopez, Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawverand reigning NL Cy Young Award -winner Chris Sale are all on the injured list of 60 days. Sales is the only one of that group that could pitch again in 2025, because he makes his second Minor League Rehab start on Sunday while trying to get his way back from a rib -bag fracture.
Smith-Shawver underwent a Tommy John operation in June, so his entire season 2026 could be in danger and what remained of his 2025 campaign. It is not much surprise that Lopez and Schwellenbach are both unofficially excluded, because the Braves from the Playoff-Race is not much value to pass on with a full-off Innings to pitch at the end of September.
Lopez only started one before he underwent Arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder at the beginning of April. This came with a closing period of 8-12 weeks, and while Lopez started throwing, he has no time to build his arm for the workload of a full starter. Burns suggests that if Lopez is able to return, this would only be in a helpers, which could only happen if the Braves are considering moving the right -handed back to the bullpen in the aftermath of his injury situation. Lopez’s return to the role of a full-time starter in 2024 worked brilliant when he was healthy (1.99 ERA in 135 2/3 IP), but he treated forearm and shoulder problems in the last part of that season, prior to the operation that has completely affected his 2025 season.
Schwellenbach helped paper over some of Atlanta’s rotation -exciting when he produced a 3.09 ERA over 110 2/3 innings this year, but the injury bug also bit him in the form of a small right elbow fracture at the beginning of July. He was almost immediately moved to the 60-day IL in the aftermath of that injury and is not eligible to return to the first week of September at the earliest, but instead it seems that the right-handed will get an early leap at his low season.
In better news, Ronald Acuna Jr. Can be activated in the 10-day IL tomorrow. Acuna has not played anymore since he suffers a calf tribe on July 29, but the sentence seems to be about to be about to have a relatively rapid return. Although Acuna is limited to 55 games because of its calf injury and his recovery of the torn ACL that early ended his 2024 season, the former NL MVP still saw in superstar form, and hit .306/.429/.577 with 14 home runs in 238 plate performances.
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