When Reynaldo Lopez had arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder, it was part of just the beginning of the tragedies that would befall the Atlanta Braves during the 2025 season. Not only would Lopez go on to miss the entire season, but the entire Opening Day rotation would end up hurt and Atlanta would quickly fall out of playoff contention. However, Lopez's injury in particular raises some important questions as to how Atlanta should handle him going forward.
This is not the first time we have seen Lopez deal with injury issues. At the end of the season last year, Lopez missed time with shoulder inflammation and a lot of people attributed those shoulder troubles to his increased workload as a starter.