Latest Aaron Ashby injury update comes with clarity about Brewers' rotation plans

Eric Cole

Colorado Rockies v Milwaukee Brewers / John Fisher/GettyImages

One of the biggest wild cards for the Milwaukee Brewers heading into 2025 was with how they were going to handle a couple of their highest ceiling arms. One of those arms is Jacob Misiorowski who has shown flashes of brilliance, but has yet to demonstrate whether the rotation or the bullpen will be his eventual big league home. The other arm has even more uncertainty in Aaron Ashby.

Given the quality of Ashby's raw stuff, he is an easy guy to dream on in the rotation. Assuming his stuff plays multiple times through the order, Ashby has the makings of a frontline starter and Milwaukee has tried to move him in that direction. However, Ashby was so good in the bullpen that one wondered if it was the best option to keep him healthy and productive in the long-term.

Unfortunately, an oblique injury in spring training has clouded Ashby's picture quite a bit. The Brewers revealed on Friday that Ashby is getting shut down for two weeks after getting follow-up scans. However, there was also word that Milwaukee will continue to try to use Ashby as a starter once he returns.

Aaron Ashby will be shutdown for two weeks and then resume throwing after a second opinion on the MRI of his oblique strain. Both he and Pat Murphy said he’ll continue building up as a starter.
— Sophia Minnaert (@SophiaMinnaert) March 7, 2025

Aaron Ashby to remain a rotation option for Brewers after he returns from oblique injury

So, the good news appears to be that Ashby's injury doesn't seem to be too severe. He probably won't be full-go pitching by Opening Day with this timeline, but this is feeling more and more like he will miss a handful of starts and then get thrown right back into the fray.

The more interesting part of this announcement is that the Brewers still fully intend on trying Ashby out in the rotation. While a likely outcome, it is nice to hear point blank that the team sees him as a starter are going to do everything they can to keep him there. Doing so not only really helps the Brewers' rotation depth questions, but it could make their bullpen decisions more clear.

With Ashby not a consideration for the bullpen for now, that has to help the case of a guy such as Craig Yoho to make the team especially after he has looked so good in camp so far. There are still a couple weeks left to firm up these last few bullpen spots, but not having to account for the presence of Ashby with or without his injury makes it where there is one less variable to consider.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.