Milwaukee Brewers: What Happened To Nick Franklin?

Three months ago, the Milwaukee Brewers called up Nick Franklin from Triple-A. He was injured in his first game and we’ve heard nothing about him since. What happened to him?

It was Nick Franklin’s second at-bat back in the big leagues after just getting called up earlier that day on May 8th. He was running to first base on a ground ball and awkwardly hit the first base bag and then limped off the field.

After the game, Franklin was placed on the 10 day DL with a quadriceps strain. It didn’t appear to be a major injury at the time, and no one thought he would be injured for very long.

But here we are, three months later and Franklin has been on the 60 day DL for a while now, and those minimum 60 days have long been past. There hasn’t been a whiff of news on Franklin since he was injured. There’s been no reported setbacks, no attempted rehab assignments, and no updates from Craig Counsell.

It’s like everyone just forgot Nick Franklin was here.

I’m not saying I want Franklin activated to be a part of this team down the stretch and have him play meaningful innings, don’t get me wrong. He would likely be activated and then designated for assignment since he doesn’t have any options left. But this is still weird.

Quad Strain Recovery

According to various medical websites, most quad strains take up to six weeks at most for a recovery. It’s been three months for Franklin.

The only quad injury severe enough to keep a player out that long is a complete tear of his quadriceps. And from what the Milwaukee Brewers told us about the injury, a complete tear didn’t happen.

Question Marks

So why hasn’t Franklin returned to playing yet? Why hasn’t there been an update on Franklin’s progress? If there was a setback, why haven’t we heard about it? Even though Franklin only played in one game and wasn’t seen as a major part of this team, shouldn’t we have heard something about him?

Is Nick Franklin even with the team? I haven’t seen him in the dugout at all during games, and he doesn’t appear to be in Milwaukee with the club.

I suppose it doesn’t matter too much for Franklin. Luckily for him, he was injured at the big league level instead of Triple-A. So he’s been earning his big league salary this entire time he’s been injured. Why should he rush back if he’s just going to get designated for assignment and lose his big league salary when he does?

It’s still odd that Nick Franklin has seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth after he was placed on the DL three months ago with a seemingly minor injury.

If the Milwaukee Brewers are content paying Franklin his big league salary and not playing him at all, then that’s their business. But this is a very peculiar thing to happen.