Braves place Spencer Schwellenbach on IL with fractured elbow

Gabriel Burns, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jul 2, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ATLANTA — The Braves placed right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach on the 15-day injured list Wednesday with a fractured right elbow, the team announced. The move is backdated to June 29.

In a season when seemingly everything has gone wrong for the team, this is the latest blow. Schwellenbach has been outstanding in his first full campaign, posting a 3.12 ERA in 110 2/3 innings. In his latest outing, Schwellenbach allowed one run over seven innings and struck out 12 against the first-place Phillies.

The Braves haven’t yet said when or how the injury occurred.

While the lifeless offense has taken most of the blame for a disappointing season, the Braves’ rotation has been decimated by injuries. They’ve lost Reynaldo Lopez, A.J. Smith-Shawver, Chris Sale — who won’t return until late August at the earliest — and now Schwellenbach, who’d become a legitimate All-Star candidate.

The team’s current rotation includes Spencer Strider, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and the 20-year-old Didier Fuentes, who likely isn’t ready to regularly contribute. The team has Hurston Waldrep, Jackson Stephens and Nathan Wiles among its internal options at Triple-A Gwinnett.

The trade deadline is July 31, but the Braves (38-46) are already so far back in the postseason race they can’t afford to wait to make upgrades. They’re in fourth place in the National League East, 11 1/2 games back. They’re seven games back of the third spot in the wild-card standings, with five teams between them and third place.