The dent is now a crater.
Aaron Civale became the eighth Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher to hit the injured list after he suffered a hamstring strain in his start Sunday against the Yankees in New York.
The latest installment of injury to the rotation leaves Milwaukee with just two of its top eight preferred starters from spring training – Freddy Peralta and Nestor Cortes – healthy and on the big-league roster. Aaron Ashby, DL Hall, Tobias Myers, Brandon Woodruff are all on the IL alongside Civale, while José Quintana, optioned to the minors to create a roster spot while he continues to build up after a late start to camp, has one more outing before he can be activated.
“We're depleted,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
The only silver lining for the Brewers with this latest hit to the rotation, which is also without Robert Gasser, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, is that Civale’s injury doesn’t appear to be too serious according to Murphy.
“I don’t think it’s that severe,” said Murphy, who added that Civale hadn’t had the MRI reading yet but “believes” the right-hander will be back before May.
The Brewers’ search for answers in the rotation will remain an ongoing one, as is the case in Monday’s home opener with Elvin Rodríguez getting the start. Tuesday’s starter still had yet to be announced, and Civale’s injury opens another hole in the rotation.
“You can't control some of the things that have happened,” Murphy said. “You just roll with it. Now we have an opportunity to learn. We haven't been smashed in the face like this in a long, long time. We're smashed in the face, you've got an opportunity to learn. For an organization like us, you've got to have even more depth, because we're stretched thin right now.”
Injured arms on the mend
Most notably, Brandon Woodruff spoke with guarded optimism from the clubhouse Monday about his impending return, one that is starting to feel more real by the day for the right-hander.
Woodruff will pitch a three-inning simulated game Tuesday at American Family Field, then go again on the Brewers’ off-day Monday. If those go well, the next step would be a rehab assignment for the right-hander.
“It’s getting close,” Woodruff said. “Just being here, being in New York for opening day, I can start to feel it. But I still have to just be smart about it.”
Woodruff indicated that once he gets to five innings with proper recovery, he will have checked every box in his rehab from shoulder surgery in November 2023.
There’s no set date for Woodruff’s 2025 debut, but it sure seems to be getting close.
Myers is also nearing a return to game action. The right-hander, who suffered an oblique strain March 15, will throw a two-inning simulated game Thursday before going out on a rehab assignment. An April return seems very much in the cards for Myers.
Quintana, meanwhile, got through a minor-league game at the Brewers’ complex in Phoenix on Thursday and will pitch again Sunday. That lines him up to make his Brewers debut April 11 in Arizona against the Diamondbacks.
