One of the Brewers top prospects suffers shoulder injury in first Triple-A game

The Brewers have been dealing with a lot of injuries to their big league club already in 2024. Brandon Woodruff we knew would be out all year, Devin Williams is going to miss three months, Garrett Mitchell is out 6-8 weeks, Wade Miley is hurt, as is reliever Taylor Clarke. Now the injury woes have gotten worse.

Fortunately, the Brewers big league club made it through Opening Day seemingly without injury, but the same cannot be said for their Triple-A club, the Nashville Sounds.

Top Brewers catching prospect Jeferson Quero left Friday's game against the Toledo Mud Hens with a shoulder injury suffered diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt.

Brewers GM Matt Arnold confirmed it was a shoulder injury for Quero and they are continuing to evaluate him. No further details were immediately available.

The injury is clearly to Quero's right shoulder, which is his throwing shoulder. Quero has one of the best throwing arms behind the plate in baseball with MLB Pipeline giving him a 60 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale. That's rated as a "plus" arm.

Quero's arm jammed back into the base, causing immediate pain. Best case scenario, he did nothing more than jam it and needs a little rest for a few days and will be fine with no structural damage. Worst case scenario would be the Jimmy Nelson scenario. Back in 2017, Nelson had a similar dive back into first base where he jammed his shoulder into the bag and tore his labrum, keeping him out of action for a long time. Even when he returned, he wasn't the same kind of pitcher.

As of this article's publication, the Brewers are still getting imaging done on Quero's shoulder. There hasn't been a diagnosis yet and until there is, it's impossible to know how soon Quero could return to play.

Losing Quero for any length of time would be a huge hit to the Brewers catching depth. The Brewers have big plans for Quero and they want him to get regular at-bats in Triple-A this year to be ready for a big league role very soon. Quero is the Crew's #3 ranked prospect and the 3rd catcher on the 40 man roster. After Eric Haase was designated for assignment at the end of spring training, Quero is the only catching depth on the 40 man.

It's likely the Brewers would be open to reuniting with Haase on a minor league deal if no other team claims him on waivers. Haase could view this as an opportunity to get every day ABs in Nashville to build up his value and keep his offensive onslaught going with a possible path to big league time if the need arises while Quero is out.

Right now, the other two catchers on the Sounds roster are Brian Navarreto and Nick Kahle.