Milwaukee Brewers: *Update* Christian Yelich Exits Early Vs. Marlins With Injury

The Milwaukee Brewers worst nightmare has just happened, with Christian Yelich exiting early with an injury.

This was not the start to Tuesday’s game the Milwaukee Brewers were hoping for. In the first inning with MVP candidate Christian Yelich at the plate, they were looking for a hot offensive start, but what they got was a huge blow to the offense.

With a 1-1 count, Yelich fouled a pitch from Elieser Hernandez off the top of his right knee and fell to the ground. At first he dropped to one knee and then sat down on the ground in obvious pain.

The training staff checked on him as Yelich was down for a short while before standing up and walking into the clubhouse under his own power.

How Bad Is Yelich’s Injury?

It’s bad enough to cause him to exit the game. That’s all we know at the moment of this article’s publication. We’ll know more later as Yelich is likely to go for an X-ray and other tests to make sure there’s nothing seriously wrong.

Craig Counsell elected to play it safe with his MVP and replaced him with Trent Grisham in the lineup. There’s no reason to push him to play in this game, especially with this series against the cellar-dwelling Marlins.

In my completely untrained and unprofessional medical opinion, the best case scenario for Yelich is that this was just a stinger off his knee that is going to feel fine after a little ice and some rest. He’s going to end up with a bruise at the very least. Worst case scenario is a fractured kneecap, which would most likely end his season.

UPDATE: It is the worst case scenario as the Milwaukee Brewers announced Yelich suffered a fractured kneecap. His season is over.

How Long Will Yelich Be Out?

That depends on the results of the X-rays and other tests. If nothing is broken and everything checks out structurally, then he could play as soon as he feels ready to. That could be tomorrow, that could be in two days, that could be a few days after that. It all will depend on how he feels.

In all likelihood, I would guess we don’t see him in tomorrow’s game and it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t play again in this Marlins series. When it really becomes an important question is when the team heads to St. Louis for the series against the Cardinals. The Milwaukee Brewers are going to need Yelich for that series. They don’t need Yelich for this Marlins series, at least they shouldn’t.

If Yelich misses the first game of that Cardinals series, there is going to be some cause for concern.

We’ll keep you updated with Yelich’s status as soon as information is available.