The Braves are turning to a familiar arm in Minnesota and moving on from a veteran reliever who had been a steady piece of the bullpen for most of the year.
Atlanta announced Tuesday that it has recalled right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver from Triple-A Gwinnett and designated Tyler Kinley for assignment. Smith-Shawver is lined up to start Wednesday’s series finale against the Twins at Target Field.
Kinley’s run with the Braves now heads to an uncertain finish. He spent the last year in Atlanta’s bullpen after arriving in a 2025 trade with the Rockies, then came back on a $4.25MM deal that included a $3MM salary in 2026 and a $1.25MM buyout on a 2027 club option. The 35-year-old was excellent late in 2025 and stayed effective through the end of June this season before things started to unravel.
For his first 30 innings in 2026, Kinley carried a 3.00 ERA with a 25.8% strikeout rate and an 8.1% walk rate. The home runs were an issue, but he was still getting swings and misses and limiting damage enough to work through it.
That changed after an early-July outing in which he gave up three runs. Since July 3, he owns a 6.39 ERA over 12 2/3 innings, with 10 strikeouts, 10 walks and four homers allowed.
The long ball has been the story. Kinley has always had some home-run risk as a fly-ball pitcher who spent most of his career at Coors Field, but this season has been different.
He’s allowing 1.9 homers per nine innings, and 15.5% of the fly balls he’s given up have left the yard, a career-worst rate. He’s also putting fewer balls on the ground than he ever has in a full season, with a 29.2% ground-ball rate that ranks seventh-lowest among the 329 major league pitchers who have thrown at least 40 innings this year.
His fastball is still sitting 94.4 mph, but the slider has taken a clear step back. That’s a problem because it’s been his go-to pitch, used 64.7% of the time, and it has usually been his best weapon.
Opponents hit .194 with a .297 slugging percentage against the slider last year. This season, they’re hitting .215 against it but slugging .449, and his swinging-strike rate on the pitch has dropped from 17.3% to a career-low 13.8%.
Because the trade deadline has passed, Atlanta can only put Kinley on waivers now. He’s owed roughly $642K in salary, plus the $1.25MM buyout on a $5.5MM club option, leaving about $1.89MM still to be paid. That could keep other clubs away, though the Braves are also dealing with a time of year when quality bullpen help is hard to find, so a waiver claim is still possible if another team has enough payroll room and believes he can help in the stretch run.
Smith-Shawver, meanwhile, is back in the mix after returning from UCL surgery in late July. In his first MLB appearance since May 29, 2025, he worked 4 1/3 innings and allowed two runs before Atlanta sent him back down. He has looked sharper in his two starts since then, throwing 11 innings while allowing two runs, three hits and four walks with 13 strikeouts.
The Braves are also adjusting the rest of the rotation around him. Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Grant Holmes will start Thursday and Chris Sale will pitch Friday.
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