The Atlanta Braves placed Bryce Elder on the 15-day injured list following right knee surgery and activated fellow righty Reynaldo Lopez from the list on Wednesday.
Elder’s move was retroactive to Sunday. He had bone fragments removed from his right knee on Monday after feeling discomfort since the All-Star break.
The 27-year-old last pitched on Aug. 31, allowing five runs on eight hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings in a 7-3 home loss to the San Francisco Giants.
“He flew from (Philadelphia to Dallas) to get his knee checked out because it hasn’t been getting better,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said on Tuesday. “We’ve been giving him extended rest. He’s been dealing with it since the All-Star break. It felt like the best chance for him to be a factor in the postseason is if he got this thing fixed.”
Weiss said Elder possibly could return following the end of the regular season on Sept. 27.
“This was the only way (Elder coming back in the postseason) was going to happen, is if he had the surgery immediately to give him enough time to possibly make that happen,” Weiss said.
Elder is 8-8 with a 4.11 ERA, 49 walks and 121 strikeouts in 149 innings over 26 starts this season.
For his career, Elder is 32-32 with a 4.46 ERA, 203 walks and 473 strikeouts in 583 2/3 innings over 105 regular-season games (104 starts) since 2022. He was an All-Star in 2023.
Atlanta selected Elder in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of the University of Texas.
Lopez, 32, last pitched on July 26, posting 5 2/3 scoreless innings with one walk and six strikeouts in the Braves’ 3-2 win in 11 innings at Baltimore. He went on the injured list with left knee inflammation on Aug. 2, retroactive to July 30.
Lopez is 4-3 with a 3.64 ERA, 29 walks and 66 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings over 24 games (11 starts).
He has a career record of 51-57 with six saves, a 3.91 ERA, 322 walks and 832 strikeouts in 892 innings over 292 regular-season games (134 starts) with the Washington Nationals (2016), Chicago White Sox (2017-23), Los Angeles Angels (2023), Cleveland Guardians (2023) and Braves (2024-present).
Lopez was an All-Star for Atlanta in the 2024 season.
In other moves on Wednesday, the Braves selected the contract of left-hander Bailey Falter from Triple-A Gwinnett and activated him, and designated right-hander Elieser Hernandez for assignment.
The Braves obtained Falter, 29, and outfielder Lane Thomas from the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 2 for two minor league pitchers.
Falter was 0-2 in five games (two starts) for the Royals this season with six walks and six strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings. He was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, two walks and 11 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings for Gwinnett.
Hernandez, 31, was 2-0 with one save, a 2.45 ERA, six walks and 11 strikeouts in 11 innings over four relief appearances this season for Atlanta. He was 2-5 with a 4.54 ERA, 27 walks and 76 strikeouts in 81 1/3 innings in 23 games (11 starts) for Gwinnett.
