Brewers' 2025 breakout starting pitcher set to undergo season-ending surgery

It's been a frustrating 2026 campaign for Milwaukee Brewers' right-hander Quinn Priester, to say the least.

After the Brewers acquired Priester in an early-April trade with the Boston Red Sox last year, the former first-round pick enjoyed a breakout season under the guidance of Milwaukee's renowned pitching coaches. Priester posted a 13-3 record, with a 3.32 ERA last year, and established himself as the clear No. 2 starter in Milwaukee behind Freddy Peralta. At one point, the Brewers as a team won 19 consecutive games in which Priester pitched.

Following his stellar inaugural season with the Brew Crew, expectations were understandably high for Priester entering the 2026 campaign, especially after Milwaukee traded Peralta to the New York Mets, signaling that they trusted Priester to be a key piece of their rotation.

However, when Priester arrived at Spring Training in February, reports quickly surfaced that the 25-year-old right-hander had been dealing with a thoracic outlet syndrome-related injury dating back to August of last season. The nerve-related injury caused Priester intermittent pain throughout the end of last season and during the offseason, but there was hope that he would be healthy without requiring surgery for the start of the 2026 campaign.

The regular season arrived and Priester's injury situation still hadn't improved. Over the next few months, he went through periods where he felt healthy enough to make rehab starts in the Brewers' minor league system. However, the young right-hander never had a feel for his pitches during his rehab assignments, and, as a result, he posted rather poor numbers while pitching for the Brewers' minor league affiliates.

Priester's lack of improvement during the first three months of the 2026 campaign led to conversations about whether the Brewers' young starter should undergo surgery, completely fix the frustrating injury that had been plaguing him for the last 10 months, and focus on getting healthy for the 2027 season.

Just moments ago, as reported by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Priester and the Brewers revealed that they are moving forward with the surgery route, officially putting an end to the 2025 breakout right-hander's 2026 season.

Quinn Priester set to undergo season-ending rib removal surgery, expected to miss the next 8-10 months

It's undoubtedly a tough situation for Priester, who was hoping to build off of his breakout 2025 season with a strong campaign in 2026. However, today's news at least puts an end to what was an incredibly frustrating rehab process for Priester. Continuing to make rehab starts, not seeing any improvement, and still feeling pain was no doubt a brutal process for Priester, and while the surgery route means putting an end to his hopes of returning this season, it at least gives the Brewers' starter a clearer path to recovery going forward.

The estimated timeline of Priester's recovery from rib removal surgery is 8-10 months, which certainly keeps Opening Day 2027 in play for the young right-hander. Eight months from Monday, when Priester will undergo surgery, is February 22, and while the Brewers are unlikely to rush the young arm back to their rotation, it does mean that Priester having a "normal" 2027 season is still a possibility.

Meanwhile, the Brewers' rotation has performed impressively without Priester in the mix this year. The breakouts of Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison have certainly been key to their success, but arms who wouldn't have seen as many opportunities had Priester been healthy, like Shane Drohan and Logan Henderson, have impressed as well.

The 2026 season was starting to look rather bleak for Priester, and while undergoing surgery is never good news or an easy decision to make, it feels as if he and the Brewers made the right choice by electing to focus on his long-term health.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow