Brewers: Kolten Wong to the IL, Jace Peterson Added to the Roster

As the Brewers look to work through some early season offensive struggles, one of their major offseason acquisitions will reportedly not be around to help the team work through it,. at least for a little while.

New Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong had missed some game time recently with a slight oblique issue. It flared up some more in Thursday’s game against the Cardinals, resulting in him being removed from the game.

On Saturday, it was first reported by FanSided’s Robert Murray that the injury is now serious enough to result in a trip to the injured list, which the team confirmed later in the day.

Wong was working through a slow offensive start of his own, having gone just 2 for 21 with a double through his first seven games of the season. Despite that, he had shown the strong defense that Brewers fans were expecting would help the team upon his arrival.

Wong’s absence leaves a big defensive hole in the middle of Milwaukee’s newly configured infield. But it was also reported that a familiar face from 2020 will be rejoining the Brewers to help the team get by while he is gone.

With Kolten Wong heading to the injured list, the Brewers will reportedly be adding UTIL Jace Peterson to the 26-man roster.

Last offseason, the Brewers opted not to tender a contract to 2020 contributor Jace Peterson, which sent him to free agency. Later in the offseason, the team signed him to a minor league contract to get him back in the organization.

In 2020, Peterson collected just nine hits in 45 at bats for the Brewers. But he added 15 walks to his stat line, putting up an impressive .393 on base percentage when all was said and done. He also appeared at five different positions, defensively, for Milwaukee last year.

To make room for Peterson on the 40-man roster, RHP Bobby Wahl is being transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day. The hard-throwing righty unfortunately gets to wait even longer to see if he will ever be able to make an impact for his current club.

With Wong on the shelf, there are a number of players who could fill in at second in the interim. Besides Peterson himself, the Brewers could utilize infielder Daniel Robertson at the position, or a much less likely move of Luis Urias shifting over with Robertson covering shortstop.

There’s also the possibility of now first baseman Keston Hiura shifting back to second temporarily. Peterson, who covered first base for a few games while the Brewers were trying to figure out the position last year, as well as Travis Shaw or Daniel Vogelbach could get work in at first in his place.

Milwaukee may not want to delay Hiura’s progress learning his new position, so that may be one of the backup options here. The point is, the Brewers have plenty of configurations they can go with until Wong returns from injury.

Brewers fans will get their first look at how the team attempts to cover for Wong’s absence today as Milwaukee plays their second game of their series against the St. Louis Cardinals at 1:15pm.