A season full of trials and tribulations for the Atlanta Braves may have been dealt another big one on Thursday afternoon. In the bottom of the third inning against the Philadelphia Phillies, Braves starter AJ Smith-Shawver took a line drive off the ankle off the bat of Philly second baseman Bryson Stott.
i can’t believe bryson stott intentionally hit aj smith-shawver… pic.twitter.com/y35fZpvUiR
— Luz (@luzthegoosey) May 29, 2025
Smith-Shawver was able to walk it off and remain in the game ... for exactly one batter. But it wasn't the ankle that was causing problems: Instead, Smith-Shawver was seen favoring his pitching arm as he got Trea Turner to fly out to left field. Eventually, Atlanta's training staff and coaches decided they'd seen enough, pulling the young righty from the game in favor of reliever Scott Blewett.
It looked like AJ Smith-Shawver was wincing and shaking his arm after pitches and it was only when Spencer Strider went up to pitching coach Rick Kranitz in the dugout and said something that he and Snitker went out to get him. Weird sequence.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) May 29, 2025
MLB.com's Mark Bowman cited an anonymous source reporting that Smith-Shawver felt a "pop" in his right arm. Combine that with the team's initial diagnosis of a right elbow strain, and you've got a concerning picture.
Braves placed AJ Smith-Shawver on the 15-day injured list with a strained right elbow. Michael Petersen was recalled to take the roster spot. Petersen was in the clubhouse in between games and will be an extra bullpen arm.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) May 29, 2025
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AJ Smith-Shawver injury scare has Braves fans fearing the worst
Smith-Shawver has been one of the feel-good stories of this roller-coaster Atlanta season so far. It looked like he might not even earn a rotation spot in spring training, but injuries to Spencer Strider and Reynaldo Lopez gave him an early opportunity and he's taken full advantage. The righty struggled in his most recent start against the Washington Nationals, allowing seven runs over just three innings, but prior to that he'd posted a 2.33 ERA across his first seven outings.
Command remains an issue for the 22-year-old; it's hard to find success in the Majors with a double-digit walk rate. But his stuff, particularly a wicked splitter, can be electric, and he'd made real strides in his first full big-league season. A seventh-round pick back in the 2021 MLB Draft, he rocketed through the Braves' Minor League system and won his first big-league game before his 21st birthday. It's been a bumpy road since then — he spent most of last year in the Minors before getting thrown to the wolves in an ugly Wild Card loss to the San Diego Padres in October — but few pitchers in Atlanta's system have a higher ceiling.
The nature of Smith-Shawver's injury, and how much if any time he might miss, remains unknown. But any significant absence figures to thrust the much-maligned Bryce Elder back into the Braves rotation behind Strider, Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach and Grant Holmes. That's still a solid-enough top five, but beyond that, depth becomes an issue, especially with Lopez seemingly nowhere near a return after undergoing shoulder surgery back in April.