The Braves have a slew of injured players who could potentially return this season, but the three most likely candidates are Reynaldo Lopez, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Robert Suarez.
Lopez is dealing with minor knee inflammation and is already throwing bullpens. He could be back within a week and will almost certainly be joined by Smith-Shawver, who’s eligible to be recalled Friday and just turned in a near-perfect outing for the Gwinnett Stripers, allowing one baserunner over 5.1 innings with seven strikeouts.
Suarez is further away. He’s been dealing with elbow inflammation since mid-June, and the Braves have taken things extraordinarily cautiously with him. It’s likely going to be at least a few more weeks before we see him back in Atlanta. He hasn’t even started throwing bullpens yet, but the expectation is he’ll return at some point this season.
Because rosters expand to 28 players in September, allowing the Braves to carry an extra pitcher, let’s say for now that only two spots will need to be opened up for the returns of Lopez and Smith-Shawver. Here’s who’s on the bubble.
Danny Young
For a long time, the Braves were in desperate need of another left-handed reliever behind Dylan Lee. However, the emergence of Dylan Dodd and the addition of Brent Suter at the trade deadline have severely diminished that need. Young has some intriguing stuff, but he’s been hit hard this season, carrying a WHIP north of 2.000 to go along with a 6.35 ERA and 6.96 FIP over 15 appearances. It feels like his days are numbered with the major-league club.
Victor Mederos
Sometimes professional baseball isn’t fair. Take out a July 22nd outing in which Mederos surrendered four runs in just a third of an inning, and he’s pitched to a 2.00 ERA over 18 innings this season, many of them in big moments.
But looking at the active roster, it’s tough to see the Braves going in another direction. They’re not going to give up on one of their starting pitchers, and the rest of the bullpen has all but cemented its spots for the remainder of the season barring injury. Given Mederos has options, he’s an obvious candidate to head back to Gwinnett. However, I have a feeling this won’t be the last we hear from him this season.
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Photo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire