Milwaukee Brewers: What’s the deal with Christian Yelich’s injury?

In the first inning of the Milwaukee Brewers game against the Reds, Christian Yelich left with an injury to his back. What’s the latest on him?

According to the Brewers, Yelich left the game with lower back tightness. Keon Broxton ended up replacing him and did a solid job filling in for him the rest of the game. But Craig Counsell would prefer to have Yelich out there every day in the outfield.

How serious is this?

It doesn’t appear to be very serious. Craig Counsell said postgame that Yelich is just day-to-day and they’ll keep an eye on him. But he didn’t look to be too concerned about it, which is a good sign.

Yelich also said postgame that he’s had this type of injury before a couple of years ago and that today’s injury wasn’t as bad the previous one he had. By all accounts, it’s a minor issue, but it gave Brewers fans a big scare in the first inning.

How big of a loss is Yelich?

With Lorenzo Cain already on the DL, losing Yelich certainly would be disappointing for this lineup. Yelich is hitting .290/.365/.473 with 11 homers this season, primarily hitting out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup. Those 11 homers put him on pace for his highest home run total of his career.

Yelich’s 52 runs scored is the highest on the team and he’s third on the team in walks and RBIs.

How long will he be out?

Best case scenario, he’s back in the lineup tomorrow. It shouldn’t surprise anyone to see Yelich get the day off tomorrow just to give him some time. They’ve already lost Cain to the DL, they don’t want to push Yelich too hard and end up aggravating his back injury.

Back injuries can be tricky sometimes. The Milwaukee Brewers might want to be careful with this. They have the outfield depth but digging into that depth too much isn’t something they want to do if they can avoid it.

It will depend on how he feels tomorrow morning. If Yelich feels fine tomorrow, he will probably play. But if there’s even a little bit of pain or discomfort, he’s going to sit out. They’re going to play it safe with their major offseason acquisition.

Next: Top 5 Shortstops in Franchise History

The Milwaukee Brewers have great team if they could just stay healthy, but that’s a difficult thing to do over a 162 game season. Yelich, Cain, and Travis Shaw are all banged up right now.