Yet another young Milwaukee Brewers pitcher reportedly needs surgery

Several young Milwaukee Brewers players came into the 2024 season with high expectations. Among the highest were that of electric right-handed reliever Abner Uribe.

Uribe was seen early in his minor league career as someone who could be a weapon for the Brewers pitching staff if he could just reign in his control. He and the organization were able to accomplish exactly that and he eventually made his MLB debut in 2023.

The youngster was fantastic in his first taste of the majors. He was quickly inserted into high pressure situations and largely succeeded, ending the season with a 1.76 ERA in 32 appearances with a .154 batting average against and strikeout rate of 30.7%.

It's no surprise, then, that Uribe was expected to be a big part of the late game bullpen strategy for the Brewers in 2024. But while he did earn a few saves early, he also struggled overall, compiling a 6.91 ERA in 14 games and even getting hit with a suspension for his role in a benches-clearing brawl at home against the Rays in late April.

Uribe would end up down at Triple-A Nashville after that incident to work on some things and technically still has to serve that suspension at some point once he returns to the majors. Unfortunately, that return won't happen for a while, and it has nothing to do with his performance.

Like many other Brewers pitchers this year, electric reliever Abner Uribe reportedly needs surgery.

It's been three weeks since Uribe last pitched in a game for the Sounds, a 1.1-inning outing in which he gave up just a hit and a walk. Apparently his absence was due to injury and it's one that serious enough to require surgery according to MLB.com's Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy.

Per McCalvy, Uribe will be undergoing surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee. It's not known yet what the severity of the tear in his meniscus, which means it's also unknown exactly how much time he will end up missing.

This isn't unfamiliar territory for Uribe, who had surgery for the same issue in his other knee early in 2022. That was his first year with the Double-A Biloxi and he missed nearly all of that regular season, though he returned later that year to pitch in the Arizona Fall League.

Though they are now down another pitcher for an extended period of time, the Brewers bullpen should be able to maintain in the meantime. It's one area in which the Crew has shown a good amount of depth and that has paid off with Milwaukee relievers sitting 5th in MLB with a combined 2.5 fWAR and also 5th with a 3.30 ERA.

But the injury is an unfortunate setback for a young fireballer looking to cement his MLB status for good at some point. Luckily, he has overcome this injury once before so there's every reason that he can do it once again.