Braves' Grant Holmes opts for non-surgical route, Chris Sale progressing and more

New York Times

17 hours ago

ATLANTA — It's become so commonplace for any pitcher with a UCL tear to have it surgically repaired that when Tommy John or internal-brace surgery isn't the first step in the long road back, it seems like an exception to the rule.
Braves pitcher Grant Holmes aims to be such an exception.
Holmes, who has a partial tear in the UCL of his pitching elbow, has decided to follow a rehab course without surgery. If successful, he could be back on the mound for spring training, though the Braves haven't given any timetables.
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Holmes, 29, made the decision after consulting with two specialists, who each advised that his tear was small enough that surgery or a non-surgical treatment were both viable options.
The right-hander wants to avoid surgery and see if he can make a significant improvement by early in the offseason. If not, Holmes could change course and have surgery at that point. Whether he went under the knife now or this fall, Tommy John surgery would be expected to sideline him for the 2026 season.
Internal-brace surgery typically has a shorter rehab period than TJ surgery, but Holmes still would probably miss 10-12 months if he opted for that procedure, also making a 2026 return uncertain.
Braves pitcher Spencer Strider, who starts Wednesday's series finale against Milwaukee, had an internal-brace procedure in April 2024 — he'd already had Tommy John surgery in 2019 — and returned to the majors a year later.
Braves pitcher AJ Smith-Shawver, who is a little younger (22) and had never had a previous elbow operation, had Tommy John surgery in early June. The team hopes to have him back around the All-Star break next season.
Holmes aims to return much sooner, to join the group of pitchers who've returned to pitch at a high level after opting to rehab UCL tears without surgery. The list is headed by the late Hall of Famer Roy Halladay, Masahiro Tanaka and Ervin Santana, but also includes plenty of lesser lights.
Halladay had a partially torn UCL in 2006, three years after winning his first Cy Young Award, and went on to top-five Cy finishes each of the next five seasons after rehabbing without surgery. That included winning the Cy again in 2010 in his first season with the Philadelphia Phillies, when he led the majors in wins (21) and innings (250 2/3).
For Holmes, the road to the majors was unusually long and circuitous. The South Carolina native and 2014 first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers toiled for a full decade in the minors before getting his first major-league call-up in 2024 with the Braves.
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He then surpassed all expectations, posting a 3.56 ERA in 26 games, including seven starts in 2024 with Atlanta, and earned an Opening Day rotation spot this season. Holmes had a 3.99 ERA in 22 games before leaving a July 26 start at Texas with elbow pain. He went on the 60-day IL and had an MRI that showed the damage.
Because it wasn't a full tear, Holmes was told by doctors that surgery wasn't the only option, that he could first see how his injury responded to a program of rest, rehab and treatment.
If it works, that would be big for him — he understandably doesn't want to miss a full season after working so long to get here — and for the Braves, who might have one less need to fill if Holmes is ready next spring.
The top three members of the Braves' Opening Day rotation — Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Spencer Schwellenbach — are on the 60-day IL along with Holmes and Smith-Shawver. Of the three, Sale is most likely to pitch again this season.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said Sale threw a bullpen side session Monday and that his next step is live batting practice. He wasn't clear on whether there would be more bullpen sessions first, or how many live BP sessions he might need, but progress by the 2024 Cy Young winner indicates Sale intends to return to the mound in 2025.
Sale has been on the IL since June 21 (retroactive to June 19) with a fractured rib cage. The Braves' hopes of another second-half rally to earn an eighth consecutive postseason berth ended with the injuries to co-aces Sale and Schwellenbach, who fractured his pitching elbow five days after Sale was hurt.
Schwellenbach hasn't resumed throwing, Snitker said. The Braves never indicated a timetable for his return, but the fact that he's not throwing indicates a strong possibility that Schwellenbach won't be activated this season. A conservative approach with such a young and valuable piece of their future as Schwellenbach would be understandable, given how far out of the postseason race the Braves have fallen.
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López, who made one start this season before arthroscopic shoulder surgery, has been playing catch, Snitker said. That's still a ways to go before he's throwing off the mound, but there seems to be a possibility López could return in late September, even if in a bullpen role, which wouldn't require as much time as building up to start.
Snitker has said that when possible, he likes for pitchers coming back from long IL stints to go into the offseason having pitched in some games, in order to have a normal offseason instead of still being in rehab mode.
Braves third baseman Austin Riley returned Monday to the 10-day IL for the second time in less than a month, after reinjuring the lower abdominal muscle he had strained in July.
Snitker said they don't know when Riley might return, but the Braves will be careful to avoid another recurrence that could be season-ending.
'I think he knows now,' Snitker said, 'that if he feels a shadow of anything (in that muscle), we're gonna just keep treating him.'
Riley said he felt a twinge in the area when he dove on the wet infield Saturday, trying to stop an RBI single in the first inning of the Speedway Classic at Bristol, Tenn. The game was suspended moments later and resumed Sunday with Riley in the lineup, after he had no issues once he had stretched and warmed up.
But on the first at-bat of the resumed game, Riley slid to field a groundball. With Reds star Elly De La Cruz caught in a rundown between third and home, Riley sprinted and dove to tag him. That's when he felt pain in the same muscle he had strained last month.
The Braves recalled Nacho Alvarez Jr. from Triple-A Gwinnett to fill in again for Riley. Alvarez played outstanding defense in his opportunity last month, but the rookie has struggled mightily at the plate in limited MLB opportunities over two seasons, batting .150 (9-for-50) with one double, one walk, 19 strikeouts and a .370 OPS in 16 games before Monday.
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With Hurston Waldrep's strong pitching performance on extremely short notice Sunday at Bristol, the Braves' rookie assured himself of another start soon.
Waldrep was set to start for Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday, but instead was summoned by the Braves to Bristol late Saturday to pitch Sunday against the Reds in the resumption of the suspended Speedway Classic.
Appointed as the Braves' 27th man — that's allowed for MLB special games — Waldrep was driven five hours to Bristol by a team representative, leaving Georgia long before sunrise. He pitched 5 2/3 innings of three-hit, one-run ball in the early afternoon game for his first MLB win. He threw 45 strikes in 75 pitches and had two walks with four strikeouts.
'We made the decision late Saturday night, and he jumped in a car, got up at 4 o'clock or 4:30 or something,' Snitker said. 'You couldn't tell. He didn't seem any worse for wear when he got there, and I thought he performed extremely well in that situation.'
Waldrep, a native of Cairo, Georgia, and a Thomasville High graduate, was far more poised, sharper with his pitches — including a nasty splitter — and generally in control of the game than he was in two starts in 2024, when the right-hander looked overwhelmed and allowed nine hits, 13 runs and eight walks in seven total innings.
'He looks really good,' said Snitker, mentioning that Waldrep could start one of the doubleheader games Saturday against the Miami Marlins at Truist Park. 'He's come a long way. I think that the time in the minor leagues has served him well. I feel like his delivery was cleaned up. The secondary stuff, the command — everything looked really, really good. Very impressed. And especially what we put him through getting him (to Bristol).'