When Braves Could See AJ Smith-Shawver Return

It's been about 13 and a half months since AJ Smith-Shawver last took the mound for a start in an Atlanta Braves uniform. The road back from Tommy John surgery is always a long one.

Fortunately for him and the Braves, he looked sharp in his most recent start on Saturday. He tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings for Gwinnett during the top half of the doubleheader in Toledo, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out five.

He's up to 72 pitches thrown, with 43 of those pitches being for strikes. He notched a pair of strikesout with the fastball and the slider each with another coming on the cutter.

As a sign of a clean bill of health, he averaged 96.9 mph on his fastball, topping out at 99.4 mph.

With where he's at, the question arises as to when he could be back.

"Yeah, once you start getting to that territory, you know," manager Walt Weiss said on Saturday. "Typically, you like to see guys go about 80 [pitches] or so. But, you know, I'm sure there'll be conversations about where AJ's at, where we're at with our pitching staff. There will be conversations for sure."

At the very least, to borrow a term that Weiss has used for players recovering from injuries lately, he's on the radar. It can be implied he could be back any time now, but he may require another start in Triple-A before he's deemed ready.

Another start would get him closer to 90 pitches at the time of being ready to get called up. For a team that needs innings, specifically effective innings from a starter, having him further built up is better for the team than rushing him back.

That being said, the team may not feel they're in the position to wait much longer for help. They tried yet another starter on Saturday, prospect right-hander Owen Murphy, and the results weren't what they had hoped for.

The starting rotation has been battling instability for nearly two months. If they think he is ready enough to jump in, then it's possible his next start is with the Braves. It may not be the best decision for how they approach Smith-Shawver's recovery, but it can't be ruled out.

If his return comes with his next start, it would likely come during the Orioles series in Baltimore.

Before then, they have Grant Holmes, Reynaldo López and Bryce Elder likely pitching. Martín Pérez is eligible to be activated on Tuesday, and he could see action during the Padres series. Chris Sale would likely pitch on Thursday for the series finale.

He'd get sufficient rest before his next start. Gwinnett is about to return home for a series against the Iowa Cubs. He would be in an easy position to join the team before they hit the road if needed. If they choose to give him one more start, he'd likely pitch Thursday in Gwinnett.

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