Milwaukee Brewers pitching updates: Henderson remains, Quintana's second opinion, Civale decision reached

It's not the starting rotation that has been the issue for the Milwaukee Brewers as of late, but the constant shuffling of the pitching staff can be a difficult distraction for a team searching for consistency. But, for now, it appears as if that inconsistency in the rotation is here to stay.

The team gave several updates on their starting rotation ahead of Friday's series opener against the Minnesota Twins, and more news continued to break throughout the weekend. Though not all bad news, the recent updates foreshadow the perpetuation of the Brewers' early-season rotation carousel.

Brewers elect to keep Logan Henderson in the starting rotation for the time being

One of the bright spots in the Brewers' recent slump was the performance that Logan Henderson gave on the mound in the series finale against the Cleveland Guardians. After an impressive MLB debut back on April 20, which was followed by a four-week-long stint in the minors, Henderson returned to the big league rotation and covered five strong innings while only allowing two earned runs and collecting seven strikeouts.

The Brewers are rewarding Henderson for his performance by electing to keep him in the starting rotation for at least one more turn. He's currently scheduled to start next Tuesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles, which would give him a full five days of rest from his last start. Though the Brewers have been careful with Henderson so far, allowing him to throw just 83 and 72 pitches in his first two starts, with five days of rest and slightly more big league experience now under his belt, look for Pat Murphy to stretch Henderson's pitch count a little more in next week's game.

José Quintana sought second opinion on shoulder impingement

The phrase "seeking a second opinion" never instills confidence about the severity of a given player's injury, but in the case of José Quintana, it never seemed to be a concerning development.

Quintana was placed on the 15-day IL with a shoulder impingement this past Wednesday, but the Brewers ensured his IL-stint retroactively began on Sunday, May 11, meaning he is eligible to return from the IL list on May 26. Without context, one would assume that with Quintana seeking a second opinion, there is no way he will return on time, but Murphy gave some encouraging news on Friday during a pre-game media session with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Todd Rosiak. As Rosiak reported, "'Quintana looks like it's not going to be that serious, thank God,' Murphy said. 'We couldn't handle an another starting-pitcher injury. He's going to play catch again and just see how he feels. He had the bullpen the other day, and he didn't throw bad in his bullpen. He just said, 'Ah, doesn't feel right.'"

Brewers fans received even more good news on Sunday morning, when MLB.com Brewers beat writer Adam McClavy posted the following update on X:

It appears Quintana's injury is not too serious, and he could return to the rotation as soon as next weekend. It's huge news for the Brewers, who have been the beneficiaries of one of Quintana's best career starts to a season. The veteran-lefty holds a 2.65 ERA and has earned wins in four of the six starts that he's made this season.

Aaron Civale to remain on rehab start after speculation of an early return

With the injury to Quintana and the delay on Brandon Woodruff's return, the Brewers were reportedly considering an early return for Aaron Civale, who has made two rehab starts for the Nashville Sounds in the last 10 days.

However, as McCalvy notes in his post on X, the plan is to have Civale make at least one more rehab start on Tuesday for the Sounds before he rejoins the major league rotation. Civale has looked sharp in his first two rehab outings, allowing zero runs on just three hits, while covering nine total innings.

With Tobias Myers back in Triple-A for the time being, the Brewers currently have just four true starting pitchers on their active roster: Henderson, Freddy Peralta, Quinn Priester, and Chad Patrick. While its possible that another minor leaguer (maybe Jacob Misiorowski) gets a spot start during the next time through the rotation, the return of Quintana or Civale, whichever comes first, should be met with little resistance from the active roster. That being said, the Brewers also have Woodruff, DL Hall, and Aaron Ashby nearing their returns from the IL, so the pitching staff could start to look rather crowded fairly quickly.