Grant Holmes Hints at 2026 Return to Braves

With Grant Holmes hinting at a potential quicker recovery from his partially torn UCL, punters may see increased odds for the Atlanta Braves' pitching performance next season, should he return strong and contribute effectively.

Grant Holmes found a unique way to provide an update on when we might see him again on the mound for the Atlanta Braves. Georgia sports aficionado on X, Kevin Keneely, posted a tweet highlighting what could be the pitching staff next season. The starting rotation consisted of Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Dylan Cease (a potential free agent signing), Spencer Strider, and Hurston Waldrep.

Three members of the 2025 Opening Day rotation were missing. Reyaldo López is now in the bullpen in this scenario, but Holmes and AJ Smith-Shawver are absent due to recovering from injury. Smith-Shawver is recovering from Tommy John surgery, and there is a good chance he will miss all of 2026 due to the timing of when he went under the knife in 2025.

Holmes seems to beg to differ. The mention of Holmes being out for the entire 2026 season caught the starting pitcher's attention. He replied to the tweet with a thinking emoji, perhaps a little hint at "don't be so sure." The account is followed by Major League Baseball, making it easy to confirm that this is indeed the Atlanta Braves right-hander.

When going through his account, he did this one other time as well on Aug. 14. Other than these two uses of the same emoji, he hasn't tweeted in four years. He is currently on the 60-day injured list with what was initially declared right-elbow inflammation but was later confirmed by him to be a partially torn UCL. While surgery hasn't been ruled out entirely, Holmes is looking to avoid it first if he can. His goal is to rehab it, which means working to heal it without surgery.

There is no timeline for when he'll be back, but this is the only route that has a chance of seeing him return next season. The moment he gets surgery, he's out for next season. When you sustain this type of injury toward the end of July, there is no racetrack for the following season due to the long recovery time that lasts more than a year.

After 10 years in the minors and finally establishing himself as a Major League starter, you can't blame him for wanting to get back into the role as soon as possible. In 22 games, 21 starts, for the Braves this season, Holmes finished with a 3.99 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP over 115 innings pitched. He gave the team innings during a season where the search for innings got as excruciating for the team as pulling teeth. If his plan works out, he'll be back to being that guy sometime next season.

The Atlanta Braves starting pitcher needed just one character in a tweet to provide an update

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