Injury to Myers causes further uncertainty in Brewers' rotation debate

PHOENIX – Newcomer Nestor Cortes will follow Opening Day starter Freddy Peralta during the Brewers’ season-opening at Yankee Stadium, manager Pat Murphy confirmed Saturday, but after that, the Brewers were facing some tough decisions in their starting rotation.

A new injury concern could significantly complicate the situation.

Right-hander Tobias Myers, Milwaukee’s reigning Most Valuable Pitcher winner after he transformed from a non-roster invitee into a rotation mainstay in 2024, called for an athletic trainer during the second inning of his start during the Brewers' 4-0 win against the Angels on Saturday and left the game with left oblique discomfort. Myers will undergo imaging on Sunday to determine the severity of that injury, but any interruption at this time of year is troublesome for a starting pitcher, with less than two weeks until the Brewers’ Opening Day matchup against the Yankees on March 27.

"We're really concerned,” Murphy said. “I mean, whenever you're talking about an oblique, whether it's mild or whatever it is, he had to come out of the game, it's concerning. ... But we have to get further testing to find out really what that is."

“It would have been [my] first Opening Day, too, but we’ll see,” Myers said. “Hopefully it’s nothing too crazy.”

He first felt discomfort throwing a slider to the second batter of the second inning, J.D. Davis, but believed he could pitch through it. Tim Anderson followed with a double, and when Myers still felt uncomfortable delivering a pitch to Angels center fielder Jo Adell, he called for the trainer. Initial tests of his strength and range of motion offered hope, according to Myers, that the injury was on the mild side.

“I’ve never felt anything on the mound as far as not [being] healthy, so I thought it was a cramp or something,” Myers said. “I was still executing pitches, still felt pretty good, just on that finish, I couldn’t get to where I wanted to get to. So that was the right decision to check it out and see if I was OK.”

Myers’ exit was one of two developments during Saturday’s split-squad action. Brice Turang, who is slated to be the Brewers’ regular shortstop or second baseman, was scratched from the starting lineup for the home game against the A’s with right shoulder fatigue. Murphy said that decision was his call, and called the matter “nothing to be worried about.”

Of more concern, it seems, is the starting pitching depth in light of Myers’ setback. Before he took the mound against the Angels, Myers and Aaron Civalewere next in line to follow Peralta and Cortes in the rotation, but coming into Saturday, the Brewers had yet to decide which of them would start the finale of the three-game opening series on the road, and who would get Milwaukee’s home opener against the Royals on March 31.

The No. 5 spot in the rotation also carries a question mark. The Brewers signed veteran left-hander Jose Quintana on March 5, and while he was doing his own build-up in free agency, he’s about a week behind where he would be in a typical Spring Training. Quintana is scheduled to make his unofficial Brewers debut by pitching about three innings in relief of starter Brandon Woodruff during Sunday’s Cactus League game against the Guardians, and could then pitch once more before the Brewers depart Arizona.

If Quintana is ready after just two Cactus League outings, he could slot in the rotation on April 1 or 2 against the Royals when the Brewers need a fifth starter. But if he needs one more start in extended Spring Training, the Brewers would have to fill that spot.

Now the Myers situation adds another unwanted complication. The Brewers already lost starters Aaron Ashby and DL Hall to Spring Training injuries that will land them on the Opening Day injured list alongside the rehabbing Woodruff, who isn’t expected to be ready to work in the Majors until May at the earliest, and left-hander Robert Gasser, who is down until August or September as he comes back from Tommy John surgery.

With those injuries, the Brewers are already deep into their starting pitching depth. Should they lose another starter for an extended period of time, their options start with left-hander Tyler Alexander and right-hander Elvin Rodriguez, who have been building up this spring to serve as long relievers or spot starters.

Beyond that, Milwaukee’s starting pitching depth includes top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski (No. 4 in Brewers system according to MLB Pipeline) and fellow prospects Logan Henderson (No. 13), Chad Patrick and Carlos Rodriguez (No. 23). Henderson, Patrick and Rodriguez are on the 40-man roster. Rule 5 Draft pick Connor Thomas, a left-hander, has history as a starter but pitched mostly as a multi-inning reliever last season for the Cardinals’ Triple-A Memphis.

Starters Bruce Zimmermann and Thomas Pannone were among the pitchers invited to the Brewers’ big league camp as non-roster invitees, but Pannone is in the midst of a month-long shutdown with a torn flexor tendon in his forearm.