Spencer Schwellenbach discusses injury, acknowledges potential surgery

The start of Spring Training is supposed to feel like Christmas for Braves Country. Instead, a gloomy cloud has settled over North Port, Florida, as the club announced that Spencer Schwellenbach will begin the season on the 60-day IL due to elbow inflammation.

This is now Schwellenbach’s third significant elbow injury since turning professional. He underwent Tommy John surgery shortly after he was drafted, and his most recent season ended after he suffered a fractured elbow.

The Braves are hopeful this won’t be season-ending, but the hard-throwing 25-year-old right-hander acknowledged he might need arthroscopic surgery and that he and the team are still working to determine the best path forward.

Schwellenbach says he may need to have arthroscopic surgery to have bone spurs removed. Asked if he fears he could miss the entire season, he said he doesn’t know what the recovery time would be

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) February 11, 2026

While we can certainly hope Schwellenbach not only returns in 2026 but also pitches like the guy he was before suffering a fractured elbow last year, the reality is likely more grim. There’s a real chance his season is already over, and even if he does return, it’s hard for the Braves to view him as someone who can sit next to Chris Sale at the top of the rotation.

The best fans can realistically hope for is that he avoids Tommy John or InternalBrace surgery, can start throwing normally by season’s end, and is 100% healthy for the 2027 campaign. Anything beyond that should be viewed as icing on the cake.

That means the Braves are already in deep water, and the season hasn’t even begun. They desperately need an arm like Spencer Strider to look like his old self, but what would help more than anything is if the offense performs like the juggernaut it was a couple of seasons ago.

The talent is still there for that to happen, but it will require several bounce-back campaigns from key contributors along with some luck on the health front — something that hasn’t gone Atlanta’s way the last few seasons, with Schwellenbach being the latest example.

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Photo: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire

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