Quinn Priester injury diagnosis definitely teetering on Brewers' worst-case scenario

Pitching injuries are an inevitable part of baseball. Even the luckiest teams can only avoid them for so long. The Milwaukee Brewers knew this when they opted to trade ace Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets.

Still, the latest update on Quinn Priester is certainly making some stomachs churn in the front office, knowing that the team may now be down 60% of their rotation from last year, depending on Brandon Woodruff's Opening Day status.

“Often, thoracic outlet requires surgery. But in this case, we’re not there,” Pat Murphy told MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. “We’re feeling like there’s a chance that he’s going to come through this.”

"I'm excited that we have a diagnosis that we can move through," Priester informed McCalvy. "We've kind of been dancing around what some of these issues were, and just to have a clear path forward is good."

Priester threw lightly off a mound Thursday, with a more rigorous session slated for March 21. If he makes it through those outings relatively unscathed, a best-case scenario is on the table, which the right-hander believes would lead to a return in late April or early May (though he admitted that was an optimistic take).

Quinn Priester facing scary thoracic outlet syndrome diagnosis, but Brewers' right-hander will try to work through injury

There's no mincing words: TOS is about as bad as pitcher injuries get, non-Tommy John division. It's the same injury that effectively sunk Matt Harvey's career, as it affects the whole arm from the collarbone to the wrist.

That Priester isn't immediately electing surgery — and has his doctor's blessing to try and work through the nerve issue — is a very positive sign. He also confirmed that there's no structural damage, indicating that this could simply be an injury that he manages and tends to throughout his career.

At the moment, there's not much else to dig up in terms of information. There is precedent of pitchers working their way through similar shoulder injuries by changing their mechanics, delivery, or arm angle upon release, but there's no guarantee that such changes would alleviate Priester's pain. At this point, all Brewers fans and players can really do is hope and wait with bated breath.

A quick return to the rotation would be ideal, seeing as Woodruff is behind schedule and Logan Henderson is tending to his own troubling injury (elbow soreness). The Brewers have the depth to withstand an extended absence from Priester, but their pitching staff is at its best when he's healthy and eating innings.