Brewers reliever Shelby Miller is headed for imaging after an ominous exit from yesterday’s game, writes Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Milwaukee skipper Pat Murphy said the 34-year-old Miller told the training staff he felt a “pop” in his elbow during yesterday’s outing.
The veteran Miller was a key bullpen pickup for the Brew Crew at last month’s trade deadline, though he came with some health risk, given that he was on the injured list due to a forearm strain at the time of the trade. The cost of acquisition perhaps reflected that. Rather than send any prospects to the D-backs, Milwaukee instead took on Miller’s contract and ate a reported $2MM of the roughly $7MM left on Jordan Montgomery’s contract. Montgomery underwent Tommy John surgery back in March; the Brewers essentially purchased Miller from the Diamondbacks.
It looked like a nice move for Milwaukee at the time. Miller was excellent in a rebound effort with Arizona, tossing 36 1/3 innings of 1.98 ERA ball with a big 28% strikeout rate and a strong 7.7% walk rate. He picked up eight holds and ten saves prior to being flipped to the NL Central leaders.
Miller has pitched 9 2/3 innings with the Brewers and sports an unsightly 5.59 ERA, though that’s a bit misleading. Prior to yesterday’s outing, when he seemingly sustained this injury, he’d pitched in 10 games with the Brewers and held opponents scoreless in eight of them. The main blemish was a three-run hiccup against the Bucs on Aug. 13, but generally, Miller had been strong: a 3.72 ERA with a 14-to-4 K/BB ratio in those 9 2/3 frames. He was tagged for two runs without recording an out yesterday, however.
Bullpen depth has once again been a strength for the Brewers in 2025, but Miller was expected to fill a key role nonetheless. However, Milwaukee also lost closer Trevor Megill (2.54 ERA in 46 innings) and righty Grant Anderson (2.87 ERA in 62 2/3 innings) to the injured list within the past week — the former due to a flexor strain and the latter due to tendinitis in his ankle. Each of Abner Uribe, Jared Koenig, Nick Mears and Aaron Ashby has pitched at least 49 innings with a 3.42 ERA or better, but the relief corps has now lost three notable arms in a span of under two weeks.
Megill suggested at the time of the IL placement that it was more precautionary than concerning — a means of making sure he didn’t push through something minor and jeopardize his availability for the postseason. It’s less clear when or whether Anderson will be able to return, and Miller’s description of his injury is obviously quite concerning. We’ll presumably have more information on Miller sooner than later, but it seems doubtful that all three of Megill, Anderson and Miller will be 100% by the time postseason play begins. Miller, it should be noted, missed the majority of the 2017-18 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.
