MILWAUKEE, WI – OCTOBER 03: Nick Mears #25 of the Milwaukee Brewers pitches during Game 3 of the … More
At last, there is some good news for the Milwaukee Brewers’ beleaguered pitching staff.
Nick Mears and Quinn Priester will join the team in Denver, where the Brewers open a three-game series tonight at Coors Field while right-hander Tobias Myers is heading to Nashville to start a minor-league rehab assignment.
The team announced the moves Tuesday afternoon, a day after dealing a minor-league prospect, a draft pick and player to be named later to the Boston Red Sox for Priester, who’s expected to make his first start for Milwaukee as early as Thursday.
For Mears, his return to the Brewers will also mark a homecoming of sorts. After spending his first three big-league seasons with the Pirates, he spent 2023 and the first part of ’24 with the Rockies, who traded him to Milwaukee a few days before the deadline last July.
He appeared in 13 games for the Brewers, going 0-1 with a 7.30 ERA but looked sharp in Spring Training when he pitched three scoreless innings in Cactus League play before coming down with an illness that caused some significant weight loss.
After regaining his strength – and weight – Milwaukee sent Mears out on a rehab assignment last week and he didn’t allow a run in three appearances, including back-t0-back outings last Friday and Saturday.
His return will bring a fresh arm to a bullpen that has covered 40 1/3 innings so far this season while compiling a 6.92 ERA through the first 10 games.
Like Mears, Myers also hasn’t pitched yet this season. He was expected to be part of the season-opening starting rotation after a sparkling rookie season in which he went 9-6 with a 3.00 ERA in 27 appearances (25 starts) and was off to a good start in Spring Training (3-0, 3.38 ERA, four starts) before straining his right oblique in mid-March.
The Brewers already had one spot on the active roster open after optioning Grant Wolfram to Triple-A Nashville. He was later designated for assignment to clear space on the 40-man roster for Priester.
To clear a spot for Mears on the active roster, Milwaukee placed left-hander Connor Thomas on the 15-day injured list with left elbow arthritis.
The Brewers selected Thomas from the Cardinals orginization in last year’s Rule 5 draft. He performed well in Spring Training, posting a 2.38 ERA in six appearances with 11 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings of work, but struggled in his first two major-league outings, allowing an MLB-leading 12 earned runs – including three homers – in 5 1/3 innings.
As a Rule 5 pick, Thomas couldn’t be sent to the minors unless the Brewers first offer him back to St. Louis. While teams can still place Rule 5 picks on the injured list, the same roster restrictions will apply the following season if the player doesn’t spend at least 90 days on a team’s active roster.
Milwaukee’s pitching staff has been decimated by injuries this season. Of the pitchers expected to be in the Brewers’ Opening Day rotation, only Freddy Peralta – slated to start the series opener Tuesday night – has managed to avoid injury so far.
The Brewers bolstered their rotation by signing Jose Quintana in early March but he wasn’t fully built-up when the season began so he remained in Arizona and is expected to make his first start of the season there Friday night when the Brewers open the series against the Diamondbacks.
More help could be coming soon.
Right-hander Aaron Civale (hamstring) was slated to throw off a mound for the second time on Tuesday and could be back near the end of the month while right-hander Brandon Woodruff, sidelined since having shoulder surgery in Sept. 2023, is with Nashville to start a rehab assignment and on track to return to the Brewers sometime in May.
Left-hander DL Hall is scheduled to start throwing off the mound later this month, followed by a live batting practice as he starts his progressing following a lat strain suffered just before camp opened.
Left-hander Nestor Cortes received a PRP injection in his left elbow, according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Cortes was placed on the IL Sunday with a left flexor tendon issue.
Here are Milwaukee’s probable starters for their upcoming series at Colorado:
- Tuesday: RHP Freddy Peralta (0-1, 2.08 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Freeland (0-1, 2.13)
- Wednesday: LHP Tyler Alexander (1-0, 2.00) vs. RHP Antonio Senzatela (0-1, 0.00)
- Thursday: TBA vs. RHP Ryan Feltner (0-0, 3.60)
