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The 1-8 Atlanta Braves will be without one of their top starters for at least three months, and likely much longer. Reynaldo López underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery Tuesday and will not throw for 12 weeks, manager Brian Snitker announced (via The Athletic). He will be re-examined at that point. The Braves are hopeful López can pitch again this season.

López, 31, had a tough time cracking 95 mph with his fastball in spring training after averaging 95.7 mph on his heater last season. That was the first warning sign. López allowed three runs in five innings in his regular-season debut and was again missing velocity. Between spring training and the regular season, López has struck out only six of 77 batters faced in 2025.

The Braves are awaiting the return of Spencer Strider, who had UCL surgery last April. He was dominant in spring training and has allowed one run in 8 ⅔ innings while striking out 14 in two minor-league rehab starts. Strider will make his third rehab start Thursday and is expected to stretch his pitch count to 80 or so. He could rejoin the Braves soon thereafter.

Even if López gets cleared to throw in 12 weeks, it will take another 4-6 weeks to prepare to pitch in games. The best case scenario is a September return, it seems. For the time being, Atlanta's rotation depth chart looks like this:

  1. LHP Chris Sale
  2. RHP Spencer Strider (rehabbing from UCL surgery)
  3. RHP Reynaldo López (out at least 12 weeks following shoulder surgery)
  4. RHP Spencer Schwellenbach
  5. RHP Grant Holmes
  6. RHP AJ Smith-Shawver
  7. RHP Hurston Waldrep
  8. LHP Dylan Dodd
  9. RHP Davis Daniel

López was a revelation for the Braves last season. They shifted him back into the rotation after he'd worked as a reliever from 2022-23 and he gave him 135 ⅔ innings of 1.99 ERA ball. Expecting López to do that again was unreasonable -- no one puts up a sub-2.00 ERA as a starter in back-to-back season -- but losing him potentially until September is a major blow.

The Braves are 1-8 primarily because of their offense. They've scored only 24 runs in their nine games, and 10 of the 24 came in their only win. In addition to Strider, the Braves are eagerly awaiting the return of Ronald Acuña Jr. He's completing his rehab from ACL surgery and is expected back in the coming weeks.