Braves’ AJ Smith-Shawver Undergoes Tommy John Surgery, Long-Term Absence Confirmed
For a while now, Atlanta Braves fans had resigned themselves to the likelihood that AJ Smith-Shawver wouldn’t be taking the mound again anytime soon. With the ambiguity surrounding his elbow injury and increasing speculation from media and insiders, it felt inevitable that surgery was on the horizon. The only real mystery left was whether he could avoid the extensive Tommy John procedure in favor of the less invasive internal brace technique.
That uncertainty ended Monday, when the Braves officially announced that Smith-Shawver had undergone Tommy John surgery. The outcome confirms that the young pitcher will be sidelined for a significant period.
It’s a tough blow for the Braves and for Smith-Shawver personally. A promising talent with a bright future, he had emerged early in the season as a crucial contributor to a Braves rotation badly in need of support. In his nine starts this year, he recorded a 3.86 ERA—a solid performance overall, especially considering that one rough outing on May 22 skewed his stats. In that game alone, he surrendered seven earned runs in just three innings. Outside of that misstep, he looked poised to be a serious contender for National League Rookie of the Year, possibly even going head-to-head with teammate Drake Baldwin.
There was hope that if the damage to Smith-Shawver’s ulnar collateral ligament was less severe, he might be able to return as early as next season with the help of an internal brace—a faster-recovery procedure that’s been gaining popularity among pitchers in recent years. However, with Tommy John being the chosen path, the timeline for recovery now stretches much further. While there’s an outside chance he could return sometime late in the 2026 season, the more realistic expectation is that he won’t be fully ready until the start of the 2027 campaign.
This latest development only adds to what has already been a frustrating and injury-plagued season for the Braves. While the team had already been bracing for bad news, the confirmation still stings. It’s another setback in a year when almost nothing seems to be breaking Atlanta’s way.
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