Brewers injury update: Harrison's scare, Zastryzny's WBC setback, Yoho's delayed start

The Milwaukee Brewers made it through much of Spring Training this year without a similar wave of injuries to the one they experienced a year ago. Quinn Priester's timeline remains uncertain, but for the most part, the injuries that have popped up don't look to be long-term and haven't knocked out much of the Brewers' projected Opening Day roster.

Outside of Priester, offseason free agent signee Akil Baddoo expects to miss the first few weeks of the season. Brandon Lockridge, Jett Williams, and Logan Henderson all missed a limited amount of time during Spring Training, but the former two have returned to action and Henderson is on track to throw in tomorrow's Cactus League game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, as announced by Brewers reporter Sophia Minnaert.

However, while the injury bug has been mostly dormant for the better part of the spring exhibition season, manager Pat Murphy offered several surprising updates in the injury department ahead of yesterday's split-squad double-header. Paired with an injury scare during the Brewers' matchup with the Los Angeles Angels, it was a concerning day for Milwaukee as Opening Day draws nearer.

Kyle Harrison left Cactus League game due to blister on left index finger, not expected to miss any time

Kyle Harrison, whom the Brewers acquired from the Boston Red Sox last month in the Caleb Durbin deal, suited up for his third Cactus League appearance and fourth outing of the spring on Wednesday afternoon (Harrison pitched in the non-Cactus League exhibition game against Great Britain). It's been a mixed bag of results for the talented southpaw this spring. He was excellent against Great Britain and his first Cactus League appearance against the Seattle Mariners, but he struggled mightily against the Athletics last week.

Yesterday's outing was somewhere in the middle. Harrison allowed two home runs, but the second one -- a three-run shot from Jeimer Candelario -- never should have happened as it succeeded a two-out fielding error from Luis Rengifo. Harrison was pulled mid-inning after the Candelario homer, but returned for the third frame, which is permitted during Spring Training games. However, despite throwing 66 pitches in his previous outing, Harrison was pulled after the third inning with just 59 pitches to his name. The Brewers later revealed that Harrison was pulled due to a blister on his left index finger, as reported by Minnaert, among others.

The Brewers, already without Priester and likely Henderson at the start of the season, surely don't need another starting pitcher injury at this point in Spring Training. Thankfully, as reported by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel following a postgame meeting with Murphy, the team doesn't expect Harrison's timeline to be altered much if at all due to the blister.

Harrison looks likely to grab an Opening Day rotation spot, seeing as he is the third-most experienced arm among the Brewers' starting options, behind only Woodruff and Priester. For a brief moment, it looked as if Milwaukee might have to tap further into their rotation depth, but all reports indicate that Harrison will still be good to go when the regular season kicks off next week.

Rob Zastryzny suffered shoulder strain during WBC run with Canada, expected to miss first few weeks of season

It was rather confusing why Brewers reliever Rob Zastryzny didn't pitch more for Team Canada during the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The southpaw pitched just one inning for Team Canada, after tossing two innings for the Brewers prior to departing for the WBC. When Zastryzny returned to Spring Training after Canada was eliminated in pool play, the left-hander remained away from game action, but the team didn't initially offer an explanation as to why.

Yesterday, Murphy informed the media that Zastryzny suffered an injury during the World Baseball Classic. According to Hogg, Zastryzny is expected to return to play in mid-April, with the lefty hoping to start throwing again, in some capacity, this upcoming weekend.

Zastryzny was penciled in to most Opening Day roster projections, in large part due to the fact that he doesn't have any minor league option years remaining. This development opens the door for someone like Easton McGee or potentially even non-roster invitee Jacob Waguespack, who has been excellent this spring, to make the Opening Day roster. Craig Yoho would be in that mix as well, if he weren't also included in yesterday's swath of injury updates.

Craig Yoho sidelined until mid-April with right calf injury

Despite getting off to a strong start in the Cactus League -- 3.60 ERA with six strikeouts in 5.0 innings pitched -- Yoho hasn't pitched since March 11, and up until yesterday afternoon it was unclear why. It was fair to assume that Yoho suffered some type of injury, seeing as the Brewers wouldn't have just stopped throwing him for no reason, but the exact injury was unknown until MLB.com Brewers' beat writer Adam McCalvy posted the following report on the social media platform X.

It's a right calf injury for Yoho, who made his MLB debut last year and is hoping to establish himself as a regular in the Brewers' bullpen in 2026. It's a tough start for the talented, young right-hander who sports an "Airbender-esque" changeup, unofficially called the "Yo-Yo," but luckily the injury won't keep him away from the mound for too long.

Despite his sky-high potential, Yoho wasn't expected to be a part of the Brewers' Opening Day roster, likely destined, instead, for a place at the back-end of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds' bullpen to start the year. The injury might prevent Yoho from reaching the big leagues before the end of the first month of the season, but if he squares away his command issues down in Triple-A, expect him to be an important part of the Brewers' bullpen down the stretch in 2026.