Update On Injured Brewers Outfielder Garrett Mitchell Is Great News

When Garrett Mitchell suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder back in mid-April, it was believed that the Brewers had lost their starting centerfielder for the rest of the 2023 season.

Mitchell underwent surgery and had a 4-6 month recovery timeline, potentially leaving a small window for him to return, but only if everything went right and he kept as tight to the four month timeline as possible.

According to the latest update on Garrett Mitchell, he's on track to potentially return to the Brewers still this season.

Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reported that Mitchell has resumed hitting and will return to Milwaukee next week during the next homestand. It's reportedly a tight window for him to make it back, but it's possible.

This is clearly fantastic news for Mitchell and the Brewers. He was presumed to be out for the entire season, so the chance to get him back at all is a huge plus. The offense in centerfield hasn't been strong all year for Milwaukee with Joey Wiemer spending most of the time there and struggling at times. Defensively, the Brewers have been able to be just fine in center with Wiemer, but Mitchell is a more ideal fit at the position.

The Brewers were 13-5 to start the year with Mitchell a key part of the team before he got injured. Immediately after he got hurt, the Brewers went 5-10.

Mitchell was hitting .259 with three homers, including a walk off, and a .772 OPS. Getting that kind of production back in the lineup would be a huge boost to this Brewers offense that has been missing his spark the last few months.

Now that Mitchell is back to baseball activities and swinging a bat, the next step after his checkup in Milwaukee is getting himself ready for a rehab assignment, which will likely begin in the Arizona Complex League before moving further up the farm system to continue his rehab. Given how long he was out, Mitchell is likely to have a lengthy rehab assignment, the maximum length is 20 days for a position player, and then once he's ready, he could be activated on the major league roster.

The Brewers have relied heavily on rookies this season, and they were planning to rely a lot on Mitchell. His injury was a major setback for this team and his return should be a massive boost to the morale and production of this roster. Even if he's limited to a pinch runner or late inning defensive sub role if the Brewers choose to be cautious with their young outfielder, that's still a boost to the team.

Garrett Mitchell is back to baseball activities and this is great news for the Brewers.