Right-hander JB Bukauskas is suffering from a “significant” lat injury, according to a report from Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. According to Rosiak, Bukauskas is currently weighing whether to undergo surgery or attempt to rehab the injury.
It’s a brutal blow for Bukauskas, who was a first-round pick by the Astros in 2017 and a consensus top-100 prospect early in his career. He was a key piece sent to the Diamondbacks as part of the Zack Greinke trade back in 2019 and made his MLB debut back in 2021, though he’s been dogged by injuries ever since. Bukauskas was sidelined for six weeks due to an elbow flexor strain and then missed nearly the entire 2022 campaign due to a teres major strain. The right-hander was designated for assignment by Arizona in January of 2023 but was claimed off waivers by the Mariners in short order, ending his Diamondbacks career with a 7.79 ERA in 21 appearances.
Bukauskas threw just one inning for the Mariners before being designated for assignment once again in April of that same year, and he was plucked off waivers by Milwaukee a few days later. He’s remained a Brewer ever since and has pitched phenomenally for the club in the brief periods of time where he’s been healthy enough to take the mound, with a microscopic 0.75 ERA and an excellent 26.7% strikeout rate. Unfortunately, his big league work has been limited to just 12 innings due to whiplash, a finger tendon issue, and most recently a lat strain that cost him nearly the entire 2024 season. Milwaukee designated him for assignment back in January, but he opted to accept an outright assignment and head to camp with the Brewers as a non-roster invitee.
Now Bukauskas’s lat issues appear to be flaring up once again. It’s possible that the issue is the very same injury that sidelined him during 2024; after all, Bukauskas was believed to be healthy enough that he was sent on a rehab assignment over the summer, but he was recalled from that assignment after just four appearances due to lingering soreness. It’s not clear if the right-hander’s current lat issue is a new one or a similar situation where he was believed to be healthy until he felt something upon arriving in camp, but in any case the injury is now severe enough for Bukauskas to be at least considering surgery.
A timeline for Bukauskas’s return to action likely won’t be clear until he makes a decision on whether or not to go under the knife, but he figures to be out for quite some time either way. Significant lat strains often require a pitcher to be shut down for at least a month or two before they can resume baseball activities, and surgery comes with a much longer timeline. As one example, Tigers right-hander Alex Lange underwent surgery to repair a torn lat in June of last year and remains out of action. Detroit placed him on the 60-day IL earlier this month, suggesting they don’t expect him to be healthy enough to return until the tail end of May at the absolute earliest.
Fortunately for the Brewers, the club has a fairly deep bullpen with plenty of options to help make up for the loss of Bukauskas. Trevor Megill, Joel Payamps, and Nick Mears are among the right-handers towards the top of the club’s depth chart, with players such as Abner Uribe, Grant Anderson, and non-roster veterans like Deivi Garcia and Vinny Nittoli providing further depth behind the club’s top options.
first!
To the article writer: you don’t name the team he pitches for until the third paragraph. Not ideal. Unless the goal was to create a mystery.
I agree with you, but in the first paragraph it mentions a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. That, along with the picture, one could assume he plays for the Brewers. Though it doesn’t really say that until later on in the piece.
On my laptop there is no photo of Buskauskas. Maybe that’s mobile only. I assumed he was a Brewer, as the reporter is from Milwaukee, but that’s not a given.
I guess some others are triggered by my observation. I don’t care. No journalist would consider the article properly written. There are standards that should be met and called out if they are not.
Must be hell to live with or work with you if this is something you felt was important to note. You might want to get a life.
Constructive criticism is a helpful thing, it helps people grow. Don’t be so sensitive, Never Remember. You might want to toughen up, buttercup.
It’s truly sad that you are giving Mustard Tiger a hard time for offering constructive criticism. You could have just scrolled by. Follow your own advice in that last sentence,
Here is what Nick Deeds needs to know and what we expect when we read a NEWS STORY on this website. “The 4 Ws of journalism are who, what, where, and when. They are the essential information that should be in the lead paragraph of any news story.”
I did not think the comment was biting in any way, simply pointing out the lack of team and noting that it was not ideal unless the writer was authoring a mystery novel.
Yeah, it mentions the Astros, D’Backs, and Mariners all before it mentions the Brewers.
So I agree w/ Mustard Tiger’s point, actually… it’s good feedback if nothing else.
Awwww, learned helplessness is a thing. This should help. Click on the 3rd and 4th words in the article. It’s red and bold.
Don’t ever apply to your local police department for work.
Journalists are supposed to tell who, what, where, and when upfront in articles. It’s not our job to be a detective when reading an article. Those things should be obvious in the first paragraph. If Nick Deeds was writing the articles we are paying for, I wouldn’t bother coming to this site. You can get the quality of article he delivers on Fansided.
Your local New Jersey police department?
Not the Spring or the start the Brewers were expecting.
Lat injuries. They seem to be as prevalent as elbow and shoulder injuries in today’s game. Yes? I mean, I don’t recall this type of injury at all from back in the day. IE. for me, going back to the mid 1960s. Am I off here?
Injury announcements are more precise today. This would be considered a “barking” shoulder injury 15 years ago. Pitchers back then were limited to shoulder, elbow, forearm, torso, and lower back.
The coaches do not teach proper form or technique. They only teach maximum velocity and break on pitches that if aren’t being thrown properly and with proper form can wreak havoc on pitchers arms, shoulders and back. Truly sad that these young guys are getting destroyed by the lack of quality coaching. Little League coaches are now teaching 8-9 year old kids how to throw curveballs and sliders. This tears young arms all to hell! Parents allow it because they honestly believe that Junior will get a full ride scholarship and punch a ticket to the show. All those dreams go up in smoke when in high school or college Junior blows out his arm and has to get a regular job. Sad that after 20-25 years of the same idiotic behavior that nobody has figured out this problem. When I coached, I never taught a kid how to throw curveballs or any type of breaking ball until they were in their late teens. Younger kids only needed two pitches fast ball and change up. If they were advanced in their baseball knowledge, teach them to throw a knuckleball. No stress on the arm at all and absolutely devastating if a kid has a lively fastball. Teach them proper pitch sequence and they will stand out without tearing their arm off.
Kid just can’t catch a break.
Yeah, so sad.
YES! But he is not that young anymore as a prospect.
You have to wonder sometimes if it would help for players who have chronic injuries to just take a year off, and not because of rehabbing, to let there body naturally heal and relax (maybe still see physical therapists, chiropractors, or those who specialize in the core muscle groups and if that would help resolve some of the chronic injuries.
Waiting for the MLB “reporters” to start with their union narrative that there are “so many more” injuries to pitchers due to the pitch clock. It was laughable when they all started spouting that bs last year.
We’ll see how long the union bosses force the “reporters” to start the lying this year.
Either he has really poor mechanics or he consumes too much sugar in his diet or both. Excessive sugar consumption can increase the risk of muscle and tendon injuries which he has constantly.
If a player is not available, he is not valuable! As to the other stuff, by the readers, it must be a slow day! Not a snow day,40 and sunny today!
What if pitchers are primed for high-intensity, short-term work rather than long innings? This concept could ultimately disrupt the game’s fundamental rhythm, pushing teams to reconsider the very idea of what makes a “healthy” and effective pitcher.
This guy’s profile has to be incomplete. Given his name, there’s no way some teammate in some clubhouse didn’t give this guy a nickname.