Brewers Injury Update: Ortiz and Sanchez progressing quickly, Hall rehab extended

For players not taking part in the Midsummer Classic (like Christian Yelich and William Contreras will be), the All-Star break is a chance to rest up and get healthy. And get healthy is exactly what a couple Milwaukee Brewers position players are apparently doing right now.

Fans got the latest update on some injured Brewers before Wednesday's home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Let's break down the news and see whether each one falls into the positive or negative category.

Brewers infielder Joey Ortiz is full steam ahead in his return from injury

One of the biggest surprises of the season so far is that of third baseman Joey Ortiz, who was acquired in the Corbin Burnes trade. So it was as disappointing when the 25-year-old had a nagging neck injury eventually force him to the injured list effective July 2nd.

Apparently he didn't need much time to get himself right because according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, Ortiz had a good practice on Wednesday and about 24 hours later could be in the starting lineup at High-A Wisconsin.

It's no coincidence that Ortiz is heading up to Appleton, is eligible to come off the injured list on Friday, and the Brewers are at home through Sunday. They clearly feel good about the possiblity of him returning from the IL quickly and it would be great to get his .269 average and .817 OPS back in the lineup.

Brewers catcher Gary Sanchez is ahead of schedule as well

Just prior to Ortiz landing on the IL, catcher Gary Sanchez was placed there himself in late June when he suffered a calf strain. There was no timeline given for his return at the time and spring training standout Eric Haase ultimately had his contract selected from the minors and was added to the roster in his place.

McCalvy was able to relay from Brewers manager Pat Murphy on Wednesday that Sanchez's original timeline for return was actually 12 weeks, which would have sidelined the catcher for most of the remainder of the 2024 season. Luckily, his injury update is that he is progressing well and his return should be much sooner. Just how soon isn't known, but that is an important bat to get back in the lineup as well.

Brewers pitcher DL Hall will have his rehab extended after a scary incident on Tuesday night

The Brewers were oh so close in getting back one of the many injured members of their pitching staff in DL Hall. The lefty was supposed to be making his final rehab appearance on Tuesday night for the Triple-A Nashville Sounds until this scary incident happened.

In another stroke of luck, it was confirmed that Hall didn't suffer any fracture from the line drive, but unfortunately it does mean that he'll be shut down for up to a week and a half according to Murphy. It's the second setback the pitcher has suffered after originally reaggravating his knee injury in his first rehab start with Nashville.

As another big part of the return in the Burnes trade, Hall hasn't gotten much of a chance to prove himself having only started 4 games for the Brewers to start the season. That's hard to do from the injured list, which he'll hopefully be able to get off of if he can escape unfortunate injuries like this one.