Milwaukee Brewers Starting New Season ‘In a Healthy Spot’

During spring training, the Milwaukee Brewers had a few notable injuries, but now before the restart, Craig Counsell says they are now “in a healthy spot.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the 2020 baseball season, the Milwaukee Brewers had a few injuries to some key players that they had to deal with during spring training. And all three of these injuries were going to linger into the regular season.

Of course, the most notable player that was going to be sidelined at the start of the season was reliever, Corey Knebel. Knebel would miss the entire 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and he wasn’t expected to make his 2020 debut until May.

During the 2018 season, Knebel was a vital member of this Milwaukee Brewers’ bullpen, where he would pitch in 55.1 innings totaling a 3.58 ERA with 88 strikeouts, only 22 walks, and a 1.084 WHIP. Looking ahead to the 2020 season, there is some uncertainty around the depth of the Milwaukee bullpen, and Knebel’s return will undoubtedly provide a big boost.

Then there was Luis Urias, who the Crew traded for this past offseason, but he would, unfortunately, fracture the hamate bone in his left hand during winter ball. This meant Urias was going to miss all of spring training and likely the start of the season as well.

Although the Brewers have been quite successful the past two seasons, they have done so despite the inconsistent play at shortstop from Orlando Arcia. With no serious competition for Arcia within the organization at the position, it is going to be Urias who pushes him for playing time.

While Arcia was off to a nice start this spring training slashing .296/.310/.926, we’ve seen him have hot stretches before; they just don’t last. As GM David Stearns mentioned after last season, “for us to ultimately do what we want to do … production from that position (shortstop) has to improve. Having competition at that position is not a bad thing.” And a healthy Urias can help give the Brewers just that.

Lastly is Eric Lauer who came over with Urias in the Trent Grisham trade. It was a small sample size for Lauer as he had pitched in only 5.1 innings during spring training, but he was off to a hot start. He logged a 1.69 ERA with nine strikeouts and a 0.750 WHIP. Meanwhile, over his two-year career which includes 52 starts, Lauer has a 4.40 ERA, a 4.35 FIP, and a 1.460 WHIP.

However, while Lauer was in the mix for the fifth spot in the Milwaukee Brewers’ starting rotation, he suffered a left shoulder impingement which was going to cause him to miss the start of the season just like Knebel and Urias.

But as manager Craig Counsell recently pointed out, if there is any sort of ‘silver lining’ from the delay of the 2020 season, it is that all three of these players are now healthy and overall the Brewers are in a good spot (via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel):

"“We’re in good shape right now,” Counsell said. “The definite silver lining of all this, I think for every team and every league – and the Bucks went through this with Giannis (Antetokounmpo) – is you’re getting a healthy crew starting. We know with some players there is some vulnerability to injuries that we’re going to have to be very cognizant of and will be. But we’re starting in a healthy spot.”"

Meaningful games are going to be taking place just a few weeks from now and some of the new rules changes bode especially well for the Brewers. With the deep roster that Stearns has constructed, they are set up well to handle the expanded rosters and the addition of the DH to the NL should play into their favor as well.

Yet the most important factor in all of this is that they are healthy entering the new season.