Brewers Approaching Decision Date As Star Outfielder Dealing With Familiar Injury

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich has a lot of buzz surrounding him right now. The former MVP has started the 2024 season off extremely hot. Unfortunately a familiar injury may keep him out the line up for the near future.

In 2018 and 2019 Christian Yelich was arguably the best hitter in baseball. All elements of his game were working in sync as he hit for average, hit with a high slugging percentage, and was stealing bases. Replicating what he did in those two years may be near impossible, but to begin the 2024 season we were seeing hope of him returning to being that type of player again.

Through 39 at-bats Yelich has a .333/.422/.744 slash line with two stolen bases. His slash line equates to a 1.166 OPS and league wide he is ranked within the top five of all these categories. To go along with that, his five home runs were tops in the National League entering Friday night's contest against the Baltimore Orioles.

Low back discomfort could cause Christian Yelich to go on the injured list.

After lacing a 102.7 MPH single into right field during the first inning on Friday, Yelich left the game shortly after. On the field there was no indication that he was in any issue, but it was later on revealed that he experienced some low back discomfort.

Post game Yelich revealed that he felt his back "grab" or "tug" when he was jogging. He mentioned that he needed to stop and remove himself from the game before it got bad and that hopefully he got in front of it. Right now he is hopeful for a quick recovery but he did sit out the remainder of the weekend and will be re-evaluated during the San Diego Padres series to see if an IL stint is needed or not. A decision is likely to come down on Tuesday.

Low back discomfort is unfortunately a condition that Yelich is very familiar with. He missed a substantial amount of time in 2021 due to it and also missed a few weeks worth of time at the tail end of last season when Milwaukee was on the verge of clinching the division.

Hopefully Yelich will be able to return to the field soon and keep his rhythm and timing at the plate. If he can maintain his early season success and stay healthy his bat will be a game changer for the Brewers offense.