The Milwaukee Brewers might need to call an actual exterminator if they want the injury bug currently plaguing the clubhouse to ever go away.
Right now, key names such as Willy Adames, Hunter Renfroe, Freddy Peralta, and most recently Brandon Woodruff find themselves residing on the team’s injured list. Jake Cousins, Luis Perdomo, and Jandel Gustave have all found their way there recently as well.
And he may not necessarily be “injured” per se, but Omar Narvaez was the team’s actual most recent addition to the injured list group when shortly before yesterday’s game it was revealed he was getting placed on the Covid IL.
Then, after last night’s thrilling come-from-behind win against the Padres, yet another injury came to light. In his postgame comments, Brewers manager Craig Counsell mentioned that utility man Mike Brosseau was unavailable due to an ankle injury.
Well, cue that depressing music.
On Friday, the Brewers made a flurry of roster moves, including Mike Brosseau being placed on the injured list.
Brosseau heading to the IL was just one of many roster moves that were announced by Milwaukee on Friday afternoon as five other transactions were also revealed earlier today.
Replacing Brosseau in the offensive part of the lineup is fellow utility man Pablo Reyes. The latter played in 53 games for the Brewers in 2021, slashing .256/.333/.359 with five doubles, a homer, and 12 runs scored.
So far in 2022, Reyes had played all of his 33 games in Triple-A for the Nashville Sounds. For the season, he had been slashing .264/.345/.450 with seven doubles, five homers, and 29 runs scored. He had a .913 OPS in the month of May alone.
Because of Brosseau’s injury, the Brewers were able to recall relief pitcher Luke Barker, even though he had just been optioned back to Triple-A two days ago. The righty, who owns a 3.79 ERA in 17 games for the Sounds this year, was added to a major league roster for the first time on May 30th but never made an appearance for Milwaukee before heading back to Nashville.
He will replace fellow reliever Peter Strzelecki in the bullpen, who was optioned to Triple-A. Strzelecki also joined his first ever MLB roster on the same day as Barker and made his major league debut last night, giving up a run on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts and recording the first win of his major league career in the victory over the Padres.
And for a little back story on the last couple moves, since Narvaez’s IL stint was determined so close to game time, the Brewers opted to select the contract of 22-year-old Alex Hall of High-A Wisconsin to fill in for him on the roster. He got the call since more experienced catchers at Triple-A or Double-A wouldn’t have been able to get to Milwaukee on time.
As expected, he was designated for assignment today and the team recalled catcher Alex Jackson from Nashville in his place. Jackson played in three games for the Brewers after a call-up earlier this season, recording two singles in seven plate appearances.
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That wraps up the moves that the Brewers made earlier today. Hopefully the Crew can start getting some of these IL-ridden players back on the field soon.