AJ Smith-Shawver set for next Gwinnett rehab start against Memphis

AJ Smith-Shawver’s next checkpoint came at Gwinnett Field in Lawrenceville, where the right-hander was set to start against Memphis on Saturday, July 11 as he pushed deeper into his rehab assignment. Atlanta did not send him to Triple-A to get through a box score. It sent him there to answer the tougher questions that matter for a pitcher coming back from elbow reconstruction: how many innings he can hold, how many strikes he can stack, and how his arm holds up from one outing to the next.

The Stripers’ assignment came after Smith-Shawver had already taken two steps back into game action. His first rehab start came June 30 with Single-A Augusta, where he worked three innings, allowed one run on three hits, struck out four and did not walk a batter. He threw 41 pitches in that outing, with 29 strikes, a clean enough line to suggest the command was back before the workload had fully returned. A week later, on July 7, he stretched to four innings and struck out five while allowing only two hits.

That progression is the point. A rehabbing pitcher does not get measured only by whether he survives his starts. He gets measured by whether the volume climbs without the command falling apart. Smith-Shawver has already moved from three innings to four, and the next marker is whether Gwinnett can keep stretching him closer to a starter’s normal rhythm without any setback between outings. The radar gun matters too, but the bigger story is whether the arm responds like a major-league arm again after each trip to the mound.

Smith-Shawver has been on the Braves’ 60-day injured list because of right elbow reconstruction after Tommy John surgery on June 9, 2025, performed by Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas. Brian Snitker called it a setback and said Smith-Shawver has a “nice career ahead of him,” but the timeline after surgery was always going to be long. Atlanta also entered this stretch missing Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach, which only sharpens the importance of every Smith-Shawver inning.

Before the injury, the 23-year-old right-hander was trending like more than a depth arm. He posted a 2.33 ERA through his first seven starts in 2025, and he also owned a 3.86 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 44 1/3 innings before the elbow went. Drafted by Atlanta in the seventh round in 2021 out of Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas, and already an MLB debutant from June 4, 2023, Smith-Shawver is no longer being asked whether he can pitch. Gwinnett is answering the real question now: how close he is to being ready to matter in Atlanta again.