ATLANTA -- On Monday, Braves manager Brian Snitker announced that Grant Holmes, who tore his right ulnar collateral ligament during his July 26 start against the Rangers, will not undergo surgery and instead go through a rehabilitation process.
On Wednesday, Holmes was in Atlanta’s clubhouse prior to the club’s series finale against the Brewers and the 29-year-old right-hander explained his decision not to undergo surgery.
“With how I was feeling a few days afterwards, I just felt like, knowing the time of the year and knowing if I had gotten the surgery right away, I was going to miss all of next year anyway,” Holmes said. “Just knowing how I felt at the time, I couldn’t bring myself to let someone cut on me. I have to at least try it.”
Holmes, who has a 3.99 ERA in 21 starts (115 innings), said he is feeling better every day.
“I feel really good; a lot better than I think that everybody has expected me to,” Holmes said. “I think every day it’s gotten better. It’s got a very good chance to work.”
Holmes wasn’t specific about what his rehabilitation will look like, but he has an idea about the next steps.
“Right now it’s just rest and doing [exercises] in the training room and very slowly working in the strengthening of the flexor and the forearm muscles,” Holmes said.
Holmes said he felt the injury when he was facing Rangers’ second baseman Marcus Semien in the bottom of the fourth inning of the aforementioned July 26 start.
“I threw a slider and I felt it, then I threw a curveball and I felt it,” Holmes said. “Then I was like ‘That didn’t really feel that right.’ I threw a cutter, the one that hit off my hip and got out of the inning and I was like ‘Yeah, it’s probably not smart for me to continue to pitch.’ I didn’t feel a pop. I didn’t feel numbing or tingling or anything. I know it wasn’t significant but I did feel a little tug.”
Holmes consulted with three doctors, including Dr. Neal ElAttrache and a Braves team physician. The hope is that the rehab will help the UCL grow back together.
“If I’m not mistaken, I think ElAttrache said it was more about kind of letting the scar tissue over,” Holmes said. “Since it’s been injured, just let the scar tissue over. There was a small tear in there.”
Though the doctors didn’t point out past pitchers with torn UCLs who have been successful with the rehabilitation process, Holmes did his homework.
“I obviously did my own research and saw some of those guys who had success with it,” Holmes said. “It was good reading those articles. I like to think I recover pretty well. I’ve always had a rubber arm, so I feel like I have a pretty good chance to come back with it. Some people have pitched with a blown-up UCL. Mine’s not blown up.”
Though Holmes was drafted 22nd overall by the Dodgers in 2014, it took him 10 years in the Minor Leagues before being called up to the big leagues by the Braves in 2024. That may play a factor into why Holmes is trying to miss as little time as possible.
“If I can avoid the knife as long as possible, that’s the route I want to take,” Holmes said. “I haven’t had any surgeries yet, thankfully. I [want to] try to keep it that way.”
The Braves are no strangers to injured starting pitchers, as all of Atlanta’s starters that were named to the Opening Day rotation are currently on the injured list. Holmes has talked to some of his fellow sidelined pitchers about the next steps before making the decision to go the rehabilitation route.
“I talked to [Spencer Schwellenbach], I talked to [Spencer] Strider and they said there’s no harm in waiting it out and seeing what happens,” Holmes said. “It was nice hearing that from those guys.”