Christian Yelich made his return to the Brewers lineup tonight, as the former MVP was activated from the 10-day injured list. Tyler Black was optioned back to Triple-A Nashville to open the needed active roster spot.
Yelich missed a month due to the left groin strain he suffered in the middle of April. That halted an excellent start to the season. The 34-year-old designated hitter carried a .314/.375/.451 line with a home run through his first 56 plate appearances. Although Yelich is no longer the superstar he was at his peak, he remains one of the better hitters in the National League. He popped 29 homers with a .264/.343/.452 slash a year ago.
Milwaukee penciled him right back into the #3 spot in the order tonight against San Diego righty Matt Waldron. They weathered Yelich’s absence well, ranking eighth in the Majors in scoring while he was out. Black and Gary Sánchez got the majority of the DH reps in that time. They’ve both hit well, but Black’s limited defensive value meant he didn’t have a path to even semi-regular playing time now that Yelich and Andrew Vaughn are back from injury.
Milwaukee has gotten very little out of the left side of their infield — Joey Ortiz’s first homer of the season tonight notwithstanding — but Milwaukee hasn’t used Black as a third baseman since 2024. He’s a first baseman/corner outfielder at this point.
There aren’t going to be many first base or DH at-bats available on a team with Yelich, Vaughn, Jake Bauers and the catching tandem of William Contreras and Sánchez. This is Black’s final minor league option year, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he comes up in trade conversations this summer. He’s not going to center a trade for any marquee names, but he could net the Brewers bullpen or multi-positional infield help.
Skipper Pat Murphy also provided a few injury updates before tonight’s game (relayed by Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). The most notable is that starter Quinn Priester is scheduled to resume his rehab assignment on Saturday. The righty has been out all season after being diagnosed with a nerve issue during Spring Training.
Priester started a rehab stint in late April. He clearly wasn’t right, walking eight batters and hitting two more in five innings. Milwaukee pulled him back but now feel he’s ready to get back to game action after throwing a 50-pitch bullpen session yesterday. The Brewers are hoping to get Priester back in the beginning of June.
Outfielder Brandon Lockridge is aiming a couple weeks after that for his own return to MLB action. The speedy outfielder sustained a deep laceration in his right knee after sliding into the side wall at American Family Field on Friday. It was a scary injury, as his knee hit directly into concrete below the padding. Lockridge had to be carted off but fortunately avoided any fractures.