The Braves’ rotation keeps inching toward help, and Spencer Schwellenbach may be next in line.
Hurston Waldrep already made his season debut last week after surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbow at the beginning of Spring Training. AJ Smith-Shawver has started his rehab assignment and is set to make his first rehab start Tuesday for the Augusta Green Jackets. Schwellenbach, meanwhile, is still working his way back, but the finish line is starting to come into view.
According to Braves beat reporter Mark Bowman, Schwellenbach could be headed to Florida within the next couple of weeks to begin ramping up and prepare for a rehab assignment.
“Schwellenbach will likely head to Florida within the next week or two. If you look at that like it’s the start of Spring Training, he could become a candidate to start in late August or early September,” Bowman wrote on June 29, 2026.
That does not mean his return is guaranteed. The Braves still have to get through each step cleanly, and even a small setback would shut him down until 2027. But the direction has changed from uncertainty to cautious optimism, and that matters with a pitcher of Schwellenbach’s caliber.
When he’s right, Schwellenbach is the best arm in the organization after Chris Sale. Before the elbow surgery at the start of Spring Training, he was viewed as a dark horse Cy Young candidate and looked every bit like a frontline starter.
Still, the Braves have to keep expectations in check. Schwellenbach has been out for exactly one year and has dealt with two separate injuries to his throwing elbow during that span. They can’t simply assume he’ll pick up where he left off in May of 2025.
But if he does get back on the mound and show anything close to that version, he’d be a major late-season boost.
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