Brewers deliver encouraging update on injured rookie starting pitcher

Despite the ongoing heroics of Jacob Misiorowski, who turned in one of the best performances in franchise history on Friday night, and a breakout season from southpaw Kyle Harrison, who will start this afternoon's series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Milwaukee Brewers are approaching the halfway point of the 2026 season with a short-handed starting rotation.

2025 breakout right-hander Quinn Priester has missed the entire 2026 campaign up to this point with a thoracic outlet syndrome-related injury that isn't progressing as the Brewers and the 25-year-old starter hoped it would. Veteran right-hander Brandon Woodruff remains on the IL following a "dead arm" incident that occurred back in late April, but is expected to be back with the big-league club shortly. Rookie right-hander Logan Henderson is set to remain on the injured list until at least the end of the month due to a lower back injury that he sustained in late May.

While the Brewers have managed to more than "stay afloat" amid this string of starting pitcher injuries, they are essentially at the end of their pitching depth. In fact, other than Easton McGee, every arm on Milwaukee's 40-man roster is either on the active 26-man roster or the injured list. In other words, the Brewers have just one arm in Triple-A on the 40-man roster, signifying that their pitching depth has been all but tapped out.

That reality was caused by an injury announcement just before Miz's Friday night masterclass in the Brewers' series opener against the Phillies. Less than two hours before first pitch, the Brewers announced that rookie right-hander Coleman Crow had been placed on the injured list with a flexor strain.

Flexor strains are concerning injuries for pitchers as they can lead to instability in the elbow. Occasionally, such injuries foreshadow a tear or sprain of a pitcher's Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) -- the ligament in the elbow that requires Tommy John surgery to repair. However, as reported by Brewers' insider Hunter Baumgardt of Fox Sports 920 among others, Crow's muscle strain isn't believed to be too severe, and the team therefore doesn't expect him to be on the injured list very long.

Brewers hopeful rookie right-hander Coleman Crow won't be on IL for an extended amount of time

It's great news not only for the Brewers, but also for Crow himself, who was in the midst of a solid debut season. Prior to a rough start against the San Francisco Giants earlier this month, Crow turned in three strong outings to start his major league career. The right-hander, who possesses a unicorn curveball, held a 3.14 ERA with 0.98 WHIP after those first three starts, while showing impressive command of his five-pitch arsenal.

Though Crow's speedbump outing against the Giants ballooned his ERA up north of 5.00, it's not difficult to see the potential in the 25-year-old right-hander. It appears as if the Brewers are simply playing things safe with Crow, who endured Tommy John surgery as a prospect back in 2023, knowing that forearm soreness or tightness can lead to more significant injuries.

It's also encouraging news for the Brewers, who can ill afford to lose another starting pitcher to a lengthy stint on the IL. While Crow's absence will thrust southpaws Shane Drohan and Robert Gasser into more important roles, knowing that the young righty will be back in the not-so-distant future allows Milwaukee to fill the void with creative pitching plans.

The Brewers didn't offer an exact timeline on Crow, but the fact that his IL stint was retroactively started on June 10, two days before he was actually placed on the IL, suggests that a minimum stint on the 15-day IL could be in store. If he truly does resume throwing in the next few days, it's certainly possible that he's back before the end of June.

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