Pat Murphy deals concerning death blow to Brewers' latest bullpen injury concern

Forearm tightness is generally not a good sign for pitchers. The injury often precedes a much more significant injury to the player's elbow, and in the worst-case scenario, a tear in the Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL), which requires Tommy John surgery to repair. Therefore, when a pitcher is experiencing tightness in their forearm, MLB teams generally take a great deal of caution, as trying to play through the warning sign is when things go south.

Such is the situation that the Milwaukee Brewers and their left-handed reliever Ángel Zerpa currently find themselves in. Zerpa, whom the Brewers acquired in a trade that sent Isaac Collins and Nick Mears to the Kansas City Royals this past offseason, was placed on the 15-day IL ahead of Wednesday night's contest with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The 26-year-old Zerpa was being used in a high-leverage role in Pat Murphy's bullpen, but hadn't pitched for four days prior to his placement on the injured list.

Now, the Brewers are trying to decide just how severe Zerpa's injury truly is. If it's simply a bout of forearm tightness, a few weeks of rehab should have the southpaw back in the Milwaukee's 'pen in no time. However, the prognosis from Murphy seems to indicate that the Brewers will be without Zerpa for an extended period of time.

According to Brewers' manager Pat Murphy, Ángel Zerpa's injury is "highly concerning"

It was a somber mood in Murphy's office when discussing Zerpa's injury ahead of the Brewers' Wednesday night tilt. The Brewers' skipper referred to Zerpa's injury as "highly concerning" and noted that "he's not going to be back anytime soon." Those are the type of comments that suggest that Zerpa isn't simply dealing with forearm tightness, but rather that the injury is simply an indication of something much worse.

Murphy also noted that Zerpa's injury was first noticed due to a dip in his velocity during his most recent outing, which is never a good sign. Zerpa started the 10th inning of the Brewers' extra innings loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates this past Saturday, and the velocity on his sinker was down an average of 1.4 mph in the outing. Murphy pulled Zerpa before the end of the inning, and the left-hander hadn't pitched since.

More information will be revealed in the coming days once Zerpa has gone through all of the proper testing, but at the moment, it doesn't sound good. Zerpa, who was working through some early-season struggles figured to be an important part of the Brewers' bullpen this season, but it now appears he will miss a significant amount of time on the injured list. It's a brutal blow for a team that has already been hamstrung by a number of injuries through the first month of the season.

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