Brewers Injury News: Garrett Mitchell To Undergo Surgery, Potentially Out For Year

The Brewers received some bad injury news on Tuesday, losing starting centerfielder Garrett Mitchell potentially for the season to shoulder surgery.

Mitchell subluxed his shoulder against the Mariners last week and Brewers doctors diagnosed him with a torn labrum and recommended surgery. He sought a second opinion with Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles this week. The second opinion confirmed the first and Mitchell will undergo surgery next week.

The Brewers have potentially lost outfielder Garrett Mitchell for the rest of the 2023 season due to a shoulder injury.

The recovery timeline is going to be tight for Mitchell to make his return in the 2023 season. If everything goes right, he could potentially return in September and help the Brewers make a postseason push, but there's a chance he's done for the year.

Mitchell had been an early bright spot for Milwaukee, posting a 111 OPS+ through the first few weeks of the season, providing a spark on offense and stellar defense roaming centerfield. The biggest moment was Mitchell's walk off homer on the opening homestand against the Mets.

In Mitchell's absence, fellow top prospect and rookie Joey Wiemer has been manning centerfield. Wiemer is plenty capable defensively, but his bat has yet to fully get going. Tyrone Taylor, who had been dealing with an elbow injury since spring training, is finally on a rehab assignment and should be back in the big leagues soon. Once back, Taylor is going to see a lot of playing time out in centerfield and right field as well.

To make matters worse for the Brewers, their other top outfield prospect in Triple-A Nashville, Sal Frelick, just underwent UCL surgery on his thumb. He injured his thumb also sliding into a base and he's now out for 6-8 weeks. It's a shorter timeline than Mitchell's injury, which is going to be a minimum of four months, but the timing couldn't be worse. Frelick would've made sense as the next man up in Mitchell's absence, but his injury was suffered on the same day as Mitchell's and the Brewers are now in a tight spot with their outfield depth.

Injuries have rocked the Brewers in the early going this season, and no injury has been more substantial than Mitchell's so far. Hopefully, they'll be able to stop the bleeding soon and no more significant injuries arise. Mitchell's injury is a big blow to the Brewers and a terrible break for a promising young player.