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.