Brewers manager reveals Aaron Ashby injury update Milwaukee hoped they could avoid

By this point, fans of the Milwaukee Brewers are well aware of how talented Aaron Ashby is, but how he also falls well short of one of the most important abilities a baseball player can have: availability.

The promising left-hander broke into the league in 2021 and earned a five-year extension in July of 2022 before the injury bug really began to sink its teeth in. To prove that point, he's only made 23 appearances and pitched 66.2 innings since that extension he signed two-and-a-half years ago.

Shoulder inflammation led to an eventual shoulder surgery and he's been made of something that closely resembles glass basically ever since. To his credit, he had entered 2025 spring training with health on his side and a legitimate shot at cracking the Brewers' Opening Day roster.

That is, until he exited his second start of the spring with an oblique injury. Brewers fans held their breath the moment he left the game, but Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel dropped a bomb that never means anything good: Ashby is heading for the dreaded "second opinion", and is likely headed for the injured list. Again.

Latest Aaron Ashby injury update may be worst case scenario

Ashby, 26, has already experienced quite a bit more hype and potential than your average fourth-round pick does, but his complete inability to stay healthy is getting frustrating.

All throughout his professional career, Ashby has been a high-strikeout arm and had displayed that regularly at all levels through his ascent to the big leagues. Sure, he's routinely had issues with his control, but the Brewers were more than happy with what they saw from him when he was striking out over 14 batters per nine innings in Triple-A back in 2021.

Since then, he's punched out over 10 batters per nine innings in every full season he's put together. The talent is so clearly there - hence the early-career extension - but the follow-through has left much to be desired.

For the Brewers' roster as a whole, the loss of Ashby is going to be immediately assisted by the newly-signed Jose Quintana. It seems the Crew will be swapping out an injury prone southpaw with a seasoned veteran who is regarded as one of baseball's most durable starters.

In fact, dating back to 2012 when Quintana debuted, only three pitchers have started more games than he has. He's entering year 14 in the big leagues and he's made 30 or more starts in nine of them. Coming off of the best year he's had WAR-wise since 2022, Quintana will be the perfect remedy for the Ashby-less pitching staff, as the latter continues to fight through injury after injury.

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