Brewers News: Crew to be Without Starting Pitcher Wade Miley for 6-8 Weeks

One big hope for Milwaukee Brewers fans was that the starting rotation would go through fewer injuries than last season. At this rate, things could actually end up looking worse.

Earlier this week, left-hander Wade Miley was removed in the second inning of his start against the Cardinals. The Brewers would go on to win the game 3-2, their only win of that series, but the feeling was that the victory came at a great cost.

The initial guess was that the pitcher had suffered a possible lat strain, but the true nature of the injury, as well as timeline for return, wouldn't actually be known until Miley would be able to return to Milwaukee to undergo further testing. On Friday, the test results came in.

Brewers starting pitcher Wade Miley will miss 6-8 weeks with a serratus posterior strain.

The update on Miley's condition was released by Brewers manager Craig Counsell prior to Friday's game against the Rays per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, among others.

The serratus posterior muscles are located on the back right near where the lat muscles are located, hence the original thought that the injury could be the latter. As noted by MLB.com's Adam McCalvy, this is a fairly uncommon injury for a baseball player, which makes the prognosis a little fuzzy.

Miley, who the Brewers had just signed this last offseason to add starting pitching depth for just this reason, was off to one of the bests starts of any of the team's starters. Over 41.2 innings and eight starts, the southpaw was 3-2 with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.128 WHIP.

Now, for the second season in a row, the rotation is being tested due to injury. Milwaukee was already down Aaron Ashby, who has been out all season and will miss most of it due to shoulder surgery, and will also be without "co-ace" Brandon Woodruff, who suffered his own shoulder injury.

That leaves the Brewers with just three starters left in the rotation at the moment in Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, and Adrian Houser. Eric Lauer had been sent to the bullpen recently for a bit of a reset, though he'll likely be flipped right back into the rotation, and Colin Rea (0-3, 5.52 ERA) was optioned back to Triple-A Nashville the day before Miley's injury.

That's two seasons now in which the injury bug has been particularly nasty to the Brewers' starting rotation. And unfortunately, there's still plenty of the 2023 season left in which it could strike again. Let's hope it doesn't.