Joe Jiménez’s path back to a major league mound has gotten so strange that the usual comparisons barely hold up.
The Braves expected their setup man to be sidelined for a while when they first said after the 2024 season that he needed surgery to repair cartilage damage in his knee. The original recovery window was eight to 12 months.
That already sounded lengthy. It still ended up looking optimistic.
Nearly two full years have passed since Jiménez last pitched in an MLB game, and he has now been through three surgeries. Even so, the Braves announced Tuesday that the right-hander is headed out on a rehab assignment with the Stripers. If everything goes smoothly from here, he could work his way back to the big league club before the 2026 season ends.
What makes this comeback stand out is how far the recovery has gone beyond that first surgery. At one point during the 2025 season, it seemed possible Jiménez might return before the year was over. Then came another setback in August, when the Braves shut him down from throwing after his knee pain flared up again.
That led to another procedure in November last year. The Braves didn’t give a timetable then.
In February, Jiménez was placed on the injured list again, and in May he went through a third procedure on the knee. By July, it was fair to wonder whether he would pitch again at all.
So the search for similar cases turned up almost nothing.
There are pitchers who have had knee cartilage surgeries, including Trey Yesavage this season, but nothing that matched the scale of Jiménez’s situation. Derek Holland had surgery in 2014 to fix torn cartilage behind his kneecap, and doctors also found a microfracture during the operation that needed surgery. Even so, he didn’t have further complications and was back on an MLB mound by the end of that season.
Tyler Lyons had knee surgery for cartilage damage in November 2016, but his initial recovery estimate of five to six months was much shorter than Jiménez’s. Lyons returned to the majors in May of 2017.
Steven Wright also had a cartilage restoration procedure in May of 2017 that ended his season, though it did not require any additional operations.
That’s the key difference here. Jiménez’s case has stretched longer and taken more turns than the others the search uncovered.
The fact that he has already reached a rehab assignment is more than most would have expected a few months ago. If he actually makes it back, it may be something baseball hasn’t really seen before.
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