Brewers: Were There Too Many Injuries to Overcome in 2022?

Milwaukee Brewers 2022 injuries list: May

May was probably the worst month of the entire season for the Brewers when it comes to the players they lost to injuries. On May 1st, the Brewers lost Jake Cousins to an elbow effusion injury that kept him out until late August. The choice was made with Cousins to go the rehab route and hopefully avoid Tommy John surgery, which thankfully he did avoid.

On May 7th, Andrew McCutchen was placed on the Covid-related IL and didn’t play again until the 20th.

On May 15th, relief pitcher Jandel Gustave sustained a hamstring injury that kept him out until late June. Also in the bullpen, Luis Perdomo dealt with an elbow effusion injury that kept him out. He made it back to the major league roster on September 1st.

Also in mid-May, the Brewers lost star shortstop Willy Adames to a high ankle sprain. That injury kept him out for about three weeks, which makes the fact that he broke Robin Yount’s franchise record for home runs by a shortstop all the more impressive.

Late in May, the Brewers lost Hunter Renfroe, the first of two injured list stints for him, to a hamstring strain that kept him out for over two weeks. He took one at bat in what ended up being an extra innings loss to the San Diego Padres and didn’t play again until June 7th.

As unfortunate as all of these injuries were, none were more important than the fact that the Brewers lost not one, but two All-Star starting pitchers in Freddy Peralta and Brandon Woodruff. Peralta sustained a shoulder injury that resulted in him missing all of June and July before returning to the Brewers in early August.

Woodruff, meanwhile, sustained an ankle injury that he was beginning to recover from before he developed Raynaud’s syndrome, a condition affecting blood flow to the fingers which made throwing a baseball difficult, especially off-speed pitches. Woodruff spent almost exactly a month on the injured list and came back in an absolutely dominant form the team could have used all year.

Milwaukee Brewers 2022 injuries list: June

June was not much kinder to the Milwaukee Brewers than May. Not only did the Brewers go the entire month without Peralta, but Woodruff made just one start, on June 28th. The Brewers also lost another starter, Aaron Ashby on June 17th due to forearm inflammation. He would return in early July.

June did a number on the Milwaukee Brewers’ bullpen as well. Hader went on the paternity list, which is not in and of itself an injury, but the stress of family emergencies are bigger than baseball and could have potentially contributed to his later struggles and eventual trade.

The Brewers bullpen also lost Trevor Gott, who had pitched pretty solidly, to a groin injury, as he missed June 6th through the 25th. Then just before his return, Miguel Sanchez was placed on the injured list with UCL discomfort (a word that haunted the Brewers all season), an injury that cost him the rest of the season.

After losing several pitchers, the bleeding unfortunately did not stop there. The Brewers lost Kolten Wong for nearly three weeks in June due to a calf strain, literally adding injury to insult of a disappointing year for Wong, at least defensively. Also early in June, the Brewers lost utility man Mike Brosseau, also for nearly three weeks, to an ankle sprain.

Then, as previously mentioned, Renfroe began his second appearance on the injured list for the Brewers, missing from June 23rd through July 11th with a calf strain.

Unfortunately, that still isn’t all, the Brewers had tough luck at catcher in June as well as Omar Narvaez missed the first 10 days of June on the Covid IL, the first of two appearances on the injured list for him. While Narvaez was away, newly called up Alex Jackson began suffering from wrist inflammation and wouldn’t see the major league roster again in 2022.

Milwaukee Brewers 2022 injuries list: July

Thankfully July didn’t have as long of a list of injuries as May or June for the Milwaukee Brewers, however the injuries sustained in July really didn’t help the cause of the season.

As previously mentioned, Peralta missed the entire month of July. While Ashby made his return on July 2nd from the first of his two injured list stints, on July 1st, Adrian Houser hit the injured list for the first time. He missed almost two months with an elbow injury, hitting the injured list on July 1st and not getting back until August 24th.

July was the only month of the year that the Milwaukee didn’t have any new injuries to the bullpen.

That didn’t stop the injury bug from hitting the position players, however. In July, the Brewers lost a valuable utility man in Jace Peterson to an elbow sprain that kept him out for over a month. Also, Tyrone Taylor suffered a concussion that kept him out from July 2nd until after the All-Star break.

All in all, July might have been the Brewers least injury plagued month, which really doesn’t feel like a win considering a good number of key players were already out before the month began.

Milwaukee Brewers 2022 injuries list: August

The Milwaukee Brewers did finally get Peralta back for the month of August, albeit in a limited fashion as to not reaggravate his shoulder injury while Houser made it back to the starting rotation in late August.

However, the Brewers still dealt with injuries to the starting rotation this month with Ashby hitting the injured list for the second time. From August 20th until nearly a month later, Ashby this time dealt with shoulder inflammation, his second inflammation related injury in 2022.

On August 1st, the Brewers bullpen took another hit when Gustave hit the injured list for the second time with a forearm injury that would cost him the rest of the season. This injury in addition to the trade deadline that did not go well for the Brewers (at least until we know how some young guys pan out), marked the beginning of a tumultuous final two months from the bullpen.

Additionally, on August 11th, Gott hit the injured list a second time and missed over a month with a forearm strain as well.

As far as position players go, August wasn’t awful, but still not kind. Narvaez hit the injured list for the second time, this time with a quad strain that kept him out for two weeks. Also making his second injured list appearance in August was Brosseau with an oblique strain that kept him out for a little over two weeks.

Also at the end of August, Jonathan Davis, filling in in center field for Lorenzo Cain who was let go earlier in the season after struggling to get his bat going, was lost for the rest of the season to an elbow injury, an injury he would finish the season in Nashville rehabbing.

This injury prompted the call up of Garrett Mitchell, who dazzled in his month plus with the team, so August may have offered a small silver lining at least for Mitchell and what he can bring to the Brewers.

Milwaukee Brewers 2022 injuries list: September and October

The final month of September and week of October baseball represented such an up and down roller coaster of emotion of Milwaukee Brewers fans. There were times where it felt like the Brewers had no chance of making the playoffs, followed by glimmers of hope and ultimately elimination.

I mentioned that the Brewers were cautious with Peralta after returning to the starting rotation as an attempt to avoid re-injury, but unfortunately those efforts were in vain and from September 9th through the 24th, he was back on the injured list with elbow inflammation.

Freddy was not the only starter to hit the injured list in September as for the first time, Eric Lauer was placed on the injured list with elbow inflammation, leaving Corbin Burnes as the sole starting pitcher to not spend time on the injured list in 2022.

Also, after beginning to settle into a start in late September, Houser said he felt a pop in his groin and missed the rest of the season with a right groin strain.

As far as the bullpen is concerned, the end of the season wasn’t perfect but could have been better. Perdomo hit the injured list for the second time in late September with a calf strain and did not return. Justin Topa after a long injury history made it back to the major leagues and then got hit with a comebacker to the ankle on October 3rd and he did not finish the season.

Finally, to put a bit more salt in the wound, on October 4th Matt Bush was placed on the non-covid injured list.

Thankfully, the Brewers did not sustain any injuries to position players in September or October.

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Ultimately, 2022 was a terrible year for the Milwaukee Brewers when it comes to injuries. The absolute devastation of the starting rotation, the Brewers’ main strength, may have contributed to the team missing the playoffs for the first time since 2017. Hopefully 2023 is a year full of health and a return to the postseason for the Crew.