While the Milwaukee Brewers appear to be in a good spot at least when it comes to options for their 2025 lineup, their pitching staff is a bit up in the air. Right now, the team is betting heavily that Brandon Woodruff is going to bounce back from injury in a big way to make their rotation work, although signing Jose Quintana this week does help the cause.
One of the arms that the Brewers were hoping would take that next step this season and become a rotation staple is Aaron Ashby. Ashby has the raw stuff to be a frontline starter or lockdown reliever, but it is an open question as to whether or not he will be able to hold up under a starter's workload for a full season.
Those fears are becoming more apparent now as Ashby had to leave his spring training start on Monday with an oblique injury and is heading for some more tests to see how bad it is.
Aaron Ashby Headed For Imaging On Oblique Strain https://t.co/TsJ73WrWiN pic.twitter.com/vnQGpnLTNE
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) March 4, 2025
Aaron Ashby injures oblique in spring training start, needs more tests
If one is looking for good news, it is that this isn't an arm injury which would almost assuredly mean a lengthy downtime and manager Pat Murphy seems to think that the injury isn't too serious. No injury is good news, but it does feel like the Brewers dodged the worst case scenario pending the results of Ashby's scans.
However, any absence from Ashby is pretty problematic for the Brewers early in the season. Adding Quintana does take the sting out of the loss, but there is no guarantee that Woodruff is going to be available during the first few weeks of the season and now Milwaukee finds themselves down one of their highest upside arms.
Oblique injuries are notoriously finicky. If Ashby is indeed only going to be out for a little while, the Brewers can weather the loss without too much difficult especially if Woodruff gets on the mound quickly. However, if the injury lingers further into the season, the Brewers are going to have to get creative to cover innings in their rotation.