The Braves announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled righty AJ Smith-Shawver from Triple-A Gwinnett and designated veteran reliever Tyler Kinley for assignment. Smith-Shawver will start tomorrow’s series finale in Minnesota.
Kinley has spent the past year in the Atlanta bullpen, coming over in a 2025 trade with the Rockies and then re-signing on a $4.25MM deal ($3MM salary in 2026, $1.25MM buyout on a 2027 club option). The 35-year-old was dominant down the stretch in 2025 and pitched well through the end of June this season before running into a rough patch.
Through his first 30 innings in 2026, Kinley logged a flat 3.00 ERA with a strong 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate. He was too homer-prone along the way but was generally missing bats and doing a good enough job of keeping runners off the bases. He was tagged for three runs in an early-July appearance and hasn’t really recovered, however. Dating back to July 3, Kinley has a 6.39 ERA in 12 2/3 innings. He’s walked as many batters as he’s struck out in that span (10 apiece) and served up four homers.
Kinley has always had some susceptibility to home runs, as one would expect for a fly-ball pitcher who’s spent the vast majority of his career calling Denver’s Coors Field his home park. However, he’s never struggled with the long ball to this extent. He’s averaging 1.9 homers per nine innings pitched this season. A career-worst 15.5% of the fly-balls he’s allowed this year have left the yard. That trait is exacerbated by the fact that Kinley is allowing more contact in the air than he ever has in a full season; his ground-ball rate on the year is just 29.2% — the seventh-lowest mark among the 329 pitchers who’ve tossed at least 40 innings in the majors this season.
Kinley is still sitting 94.4 mph on his four-seamer, but his slider’s results have taken a noticeable downturn this year. That’s not a good development considering it’s far and away his most-used offering (64.7%) and has typically graded as his best pitch. Opponents batted just .194 with a .297 slugging percentage against Kinley’s slider last year. In 2026, they’re hitting .215 but slugging .449. His swinging-strike rate on the pitch has fallen from 17.3% to a career-low 13.8%.
With Kinley off the roster and the trade deadline behind us, Atlanta can only place the right-hander on waivers. He’s still owed about $642K in salary, plus that $1.25MM buyout on a $5.5MM club option. The remaining $1.89MM left to be paid out might be too steep for another team to place a claim, but Kinley pitched well for most of the season and quality bullpen arms are hard to come by this time of year. It’s at least plausible that another club with some payroll wiggle room will scoop him up in hopes that he can provide a boost down the stretch.
Smith-Shawver made his return from UCL surgery in late July, lasting 4 1/3 innings and allowing a pair of runs in his first MLB action since May 29, 2025. The Braves sent him back down after the fact, and he’s been solid in two starts since: 11 innings pitched, two runs, three hits, four walks, 13 strikeouts. He’ll get the nod Wednesday at Target Field, allowing Atlanta to push workhorse Chris Sale back a day.
