Injuries and inaction with pitchers create gloomy spring for Braves

Right?

“Yeah, I’m not sure,” manager Walt Weiss said Wednesday at the team’s spring training complex. “We all hope for that. You never know how these things go.”

Well, that’s a bummer for Braves fans. They could use some positivity when so much is going wrong with the health of pitchers before Grapefruit League games even start.

Instead, the team is offering sober assessments about a potential staff ace (Schwellenbach) and a depth option (Waldrep). Meanwhile, they’ve watched other teams sign free agent pitchers to add to camp rosters while the Braves stand pat.

Certainly, the Braves shouldn’t blow smoke when players, especially pitchers, undergo surgery. Schwellenbach and Waldrep face long recovery times. It’s too early to put an exact date on their return to the mound.

But that also offers room to inject some optimism.

No one could reasonably blame Braves officials if they said there’s a chance Schwellenbach and Waldrep can return and then they don’t. A chance of return doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed.

The Braves definitely could use Schwellenbach. He was outstanding in 2025 before he suffered a fractured right elbow June 28. The bone spurs were discovered after Schwellenbach, 25, felt pain while throwing a recent bullpen session.

Waldrep, 23, could help the Braves. He had a rough debut season in 2024 but seemed to figure things out last year. There was a chance for him to join the back end of the rotation coming out of camp.

Maybe there’s still a chance that happens. Waldrep’s status will become clearer after he has surgery.

Perhaps Schwellenbach makes his way back, too. The typical time for return to play is about three months. In that case, Schwellenbach would be ready soon after he’s eligible to come off the IL.

The Braves aren’t sounding optimistic about those scenarios right now, at least not publicly. No outside reinforcements appear to be on the way after president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos identified starting pitching as an offseason priority.

Inaction with adding pitchers before camp, and injuries to two of them during it, is a tough one-two punch for Braves backers. They remember the role pitching attrition played in ending the team’s seven-year playoff streak in 2025.

All should be good for the Braves if the top three starters — Chris Sale, Spencer Strider and Reynaldo López — stay healthy.

Sale has a long track record as a top-notch pitcher. Strider was on an early path to a Cy Young Award. López was an All-Star in 2024.

All is unlikely to be good with the pitching rotation if those three miss significant time.

Sale’s long IL stint for a rib injury in 2025 was the second of his career. A hamstring injury sapped some life from Strider’s fastball in 2025. The Braves took extra steps to keep López healthy after moving him to the rotation from the bullpen in 2024, but he still ended up having shoulder surgery.

If you’re looking for reasons to believe Schwellenbach and Waldrep can come back and help the situation, you can find it about 70 miles from here at Yankees camp in Tampa.

Left-hander Carlos Rodón, 33, had surgery in October to shave bone spurs and remove loose bodies from his elbow. He reportedly threw his fifth bullpen session Saturday. Rodon is shooting for a return in late April, which would be about seven months following surgery.

Rodón has much more MLB mileage on his arm than Schwellenbach and Waldrep. Rodón has pitched 1,282 innings in MLB, compared with 234⅓ for Schwellenbach and 63⅓ for Waldrep. Also, Rodón told reporters he pitched with pain last season, while Schwellenbach and Waldrep are dealing with their issues now.

It’s reasonable to believe the recovery time for Schwellenbach and Waldrep can be much shorter than for Rodón. They could yet pitch for the Braves this season.

I’m taking that sunny outlook even if the Braves aren’t.