Milwaukee Brewers: Abner Uribe Serving Both MLB And MiLB Suspension

The Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays series last week was a mid-week series that didn't lack entertainment and drama as several strange sequences unfolded that eventually led to a benches clearing brawl. Front and center of the fight was 23 year old Abner Uribe as he got into it with Jose Siri. As a result of his actions he was suspended six games.

Upon conclusion of the Brewers and Rays series, Milwaukee elected to option Abner Uribe to the minor leagues. Manager Pat Murphy cited both maturity and needing to improve upon his fastball command as the primary reasons for the demotion. Through 14.1 innings this year Uribe has a 6.91 ERA, 1.88 WHIP, and has walked 12 batters.

Although Uribe is appealing his MLB suspension it cannot be served until he returns to the big leagues. Assuming the suspension is upheld, that means the Brewers will be down a reliever for six games once he returns. Bringing him back up just prior to the All-Star break could be one way to help mitigate the effects of his suspension on the bullpen.

Abner Uribe is also serving a suspension in the minor leagues for an incident that occurred last July.

While Uribe's MLB suspension is grabbing all the headlines it is worth noting that he cannot pitch in Triple-A until he finishes out a suspension that he received last July while in Triple-A. On July 6, 2023 he got involved in a benches clearing incident centered around Cleveland Guardians prospect George Valera and Nashville Sounds catcher Alex Jackson.

During this third inning altercation all of Valera, Jackson, and Uribe were ejected and subsequently suspended. Milwaukee ended up promoting Uribe to the big leagues two days after this incident occurred.

It will be interesting to see how Uribe responds to all of this. The 23 year old is known for being very expressive. He tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve, he shushed the New York Mets dugout on Opening Weekend, and he brings out the holster when he gets out of jams on the mound.

All this isn't to say that expressing emotion is a bad thing. The Brewers are typically very lenient when it comes to allowing players to be themselves, but there is a difference between safely expressing doing this and putting ones self or others in danger. It is in that area that Uribe will have to quickly mature in before returning to the big league club.