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Padres Notes: Reynolds, Hoeing, Paplham

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Sean Reynolds is suffering from a stress reaction in his right foot, and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Reynolds will be wearing a walking boot “for at least the next week and a half.”  Padres manager Mike Shildt didn’t yet know how much ramp-up time Reynolds might need after the boot is removed, leaving some doubt as to whether or not Reynolds might not be part of the Opening Day roster.

A knee injury already cut short Reynolds’ rookie season after nine MLB appearances and 11 innings, ending a very first strong first impression for the right-hander.  Reynolds had an 0.82 ERA and 42.9% strikeout rate during his small sample size, with those eye-popping stats countered by a more modest 10.2% walk rate.  In the minors, Reynolds had good strikeout numbers and plenty of control problems, though he only entering his fifth pro season as a pitcher after transitioning from first base and outfield work in his first four years in the Marlins’ farm system.

Reynolds’ fastball clocked within the 95mph range in the minors, but he dialed it up to 96.9mph during his brief stint in San Diego last year.  The 26-year-old’s live arm made him a contender to be part of the Padres’ bullpen mix, though his foot injury now sets back his chances of breaking camp with the team.  Reynolds has a minor league option remaining, giving the Padres some flexibility in moving him back and forth from Triple-A after he gets healthy.

Bryan Hoeing also made an impact after coming to the Padres along with Tanner Scott at last summer’s trade deadline, as Hoeing posted a 1.52 ERA in 23 2/3 regular-season innings.  However, Hoeing is also a question mark in camp, as his first throwing session won’t take place until tomorrow due to a sore right shoulder.

Tests haven’t revealed any structural damage, but Hoeing told Acee that his shoulder has been “barking.”  The injury isn’t thought to be overly serious, yet Hoeing’s timeline or his own chances of being part of the Opening Day roster can’t be determined until Hoeing gets onto a mound and starts his throwing progression.

In other pitching news, right-handed pitching prospect Cole Paplham appears to have avoided the worst after he was hit in the face by an Aaron Bracho line drive during today’s game with the Dodgers.  Paplham obviously needed some time to recover, and eventually walked to a golf cart that took him off the field.  Shildt said Paplham was undergoing testing and “he was conscious, seemed alert, knew where he was.  But clearly a scary thing.”

White Sox Planning To Use Mike Clevinger As Reliever

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Mike Clevinger has started 142 of his 156 career Major League games, and only one of his 14 relief appearances has come during Clevinger’s last six seasons.  However, now that the right-hander has returned to the White Sox on a minor league deal, the team intends to look at Clevinger as relief pitching during Spring Training and into the regular season.

“Everything looks really crisp, and just hopefully we can continue to give him opportunities to see what it looks like out of the bullpen and hopefully it all lines up,” Sox manager Will Venable told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin and other reporters.  “I think the focus right now is getting into the routine of shortening down, and seeing what the recovery looks like in between appearances.  We’ll go from there as we continue to build out our roster.”

The decision is a little surprising given Clevinger’s history as a starter, and the lack of experience within Chicago’s rotation.  Martin Perez was signed to a one-year, $5MM to be the veteran anchor of the staff, and Bryse Wilson (who has pitched in each of the last seven MLB seasons) was brought in as at least a swingman, and possibly a full-time rotation member.  Beyond that duo, Jonathan Cannon and Sean Burke only made their big league debuts last season, and Davis Martin has 113 1/3 innings over parts of the 2022 and 2024 seasons.

Still, it isn’t surprising that the rebuilding White Sox want to see what these younger arms (plus others competing for rotation jobs) have to offer, rather than give innings to the 34-year-old Clevinger.  The new bullpen role also reflects the reality of Clevinger’s abbreviated and injury-riddled 2024 season, as he was limited to 16 innings due to elbow inflammation and then a disc surgery on his neck in early August.  Clevinger also didn’t sign until early April, so he spent his first month ramping up in the minors before making his 2024 debut in May.

On the injury front, Clevinger told Merkin that he is feeling far better in the aftermath of the neck procedure, and also provided some insight into just how many additional issues he was facing due to his disc problem.

“That first night after surgery I slept better than I had in probably six months.  I was throwing two weeks after that, and now I feel as healthy as I have since 2019,” Clevinger said.  “I instantly was already moving my head around better.  My [scapula] mobility got a lot better.  I was sleeping better.  I was throwing bullpens again.  By the time I got back to lifting and throwing bullpens, all the numbness in my hand, the forearm muscles shutting down, all that stuff had already stopped.”

In regards to his bullpen job, Clevinger views the transition as “an interesting new challenge” after years of establishing his starting pitching routine.  “It’s going to be finding the flow of things, when I’m getting ready, the throwing before the game, and just really ironing out those details is going to be the biggest challenge,” the right-hander said.  “I don’t think it will be a problem.  Mitigate each day to try to get back out there and go back-to-back days, three games in a row, and find that flow.”

If there seemed to be plenty of opportunity within the White Sox rotation, the bullpen is the same story.  Sox GM Chris Getz said earlier this week that Clevinger could even receive consideration as the team’s closer, underscoring how fluid things are with Chicago’s roster.

Countless starting pitchers have revitalized their careers with moves to the bullpen, so there’s certainly a chance Clevinger could join this long list.  Since the White Sox aren’t aiming to contend, every veteran player is a potential deadline trade chip, and a successful reliever version of Clevinger could certainly garner some interest by midseason.

Mets’ Nick Madrigal To Undergo MRI On Dislocated Left Shoulder

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Nick Madrigal dislocated his left shoulder during today’s Spring Training split-squad game between the Mets and Nationals.  In the first inning of the game, Madrigal (who was playing shortstop) had to awkwardly adjust his body to gather a deflected ground ball, and suffered the injury after falling to the ground on the throw to first base.

The seriousness of the dislocation isn’t yet known, as Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including SNY’s Andy Martino) that Madrigal will need to undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the damage.  The veteran infielder will surely miss some time recovering, and a more severe dislocation could even require surgery and an early end to Madrigal’s 2025 season.

The Cubs opted to non-tender Madrigal last fall rather than pay him a projected arbitration salary of $1.9MM, and Madrigal then caught on with the Mets on a split contract.  He can earn $1.35MM if he remains on New York’s active roster, though the split nature of the deal allows the Mets to move Madrigal to Triple-A for more roster flexibility, as he has a minor league option remaining.

Between Francisco Lindor, Mark Vientos, Jeff McNeil, and now the re-signed Pete Alonso, the Mets’ everyday infield is pretty set, leaving Madrigal as the most experienced member of a set of players battling for backup jobs.  Martino writes that at this point, the Mets are likely to just stick with their younger infielders rather than pursue another veteran (such as fan favorite Jose Iglesias) if Madrigal does have to miss an extended amount of time.  This leaves the door open for at least one of Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuna, or Ronny Mauricio to be part of the Opening Day roster, plus Donovan Walton and Luis De Los Santos are also in camp on minor league deals.

Madrigal is a defensive specialist whose offense has cratered over the last three seasons, and past injuries could likely have contributed to this offensive decline.  Madrigal separated his left shoulder during the 2020 season, which led to offseason surgery.  His 2021 and 2024 seasons were both prematurely ended by injuries — a hamstring surgery and a left hand fracture, respectively.  In between, Madrigal also missed significant time during the 2022 and 2023 seasons with hamstring and groin issues.

Mariners Sign Trevor Gott To Minor League Contract

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The Mariners signed right-hander Trevor Gott to a minor league deal, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports.  Gott’s contract includes an invitation to Seattle’s big league spring camp.

This is Gott’s second stint with the M’s, as he previously joined the club on a one-year, $1.2MM guaranteed deal back in November 2022.  Gott went on to post a 4.03 ERA across 29 innings for the Mariners in 2023 before he and fellow righty Chris Flexen were traded to the Mets in July 2023.  Gott then had a 4.34 ERA in another 29 innings with New York before he was non-tendered last offseason, leading to a one-year, $1.5MM contract with the Athletics.

However, Gott never officially played for the A’s during this one season in Oakland, as Gott tore his UCL during Spring Training and underwent Tommy John surgery in late March.  Given the usual 13-15 month recovery period for such procedures, Gott projects to be ready to return to a big league mound at some point in May or June, if all goes well with the rehab.

Even though Gott’s deal with Seattle is non-guaranteed, it counts as a good sign in Gott’s rehab that the Mariners felt comfortable to extend an offer in the latter stages of the recovery process.  It’s basically a no-risk investment for the M’s, with the upside of landing a veteran arm at a discount price if Gott recovers as expected.

Gott has suited up for six different teams over his eight seasons in the Show, which is a pretty typical journeyman resume for a reliever who has good but not great velocity and strikeout ability.  Gott mostly relies on a sinker/fastball mix with both pitches sitting around 95mph, and as his best, the 32-year-old has been able to deliver results and eat bullpen innings.  Over his last two healthy seasons, Gott had a 4.17 ERA, 23.7% strikeout rate, and 6.9% walk rate in 103 2/3 combined innings with the Brewers, Mariners, and Mets.

Royals Notes: Rotation, Cameron, Bowlan, Mitchell

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Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, and the re-signed Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen project as the Royals’ top four starters, setting up a competition for the fifth spot between such pitchers as Kris Bubic, Alec Marsh, Kyle Wright, and Daniel Lynch IV.  However, MLB.com’s Anne Rogers writes that left-handed prospect Noah Cameron might also be on the radar as at least a depth arm, since Marsh (shoulder soreness) and Wright (hamstring strain) are both dealing with injuries.

Marsh’s right shoulder first began to bother him during his offseason ramp-up process, leaving the Royals taking a cautious approach to Marsh’s workload in spring camp.  Marsh did throw his first bullpen session of the spring on Friday, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be fully ready to go by Opening Day, given the slowed throwing progression.

In Wright’s case, his hamstring strain is thought to be mild in nature, though he’ll be delayed around a week in recovery.  It makes for a frustrating late development near what seemed to be the end of a much longer rehab process for Wright, who hasn’t pitched since September 2023 due to shoulder surgery.  Those shoulder problems also limited him to 31 innings during the 2023 season, so it has more or less been a two-year odyssey for Wright to return to form as a regular starting pitcher.

Bubic is now probably in the driver’s seat for the fifth starter’s job, yet he is being built back to a starters’ workload himself after a Tommy John surgery cost him most of the last two seasons.  Bubic was able to return to action last July and pitched well in a relief role, with a 2.67 ERA over 30 1/3 innings out of the K.C. bullpen.

All this uncertainty could open the door to a youngster like Cameron.  Rogers writes that the Royals have “reassured Cameron that he’ll be helping out in Kansas City at some point in 2025,” which would mark the 25-year-old’s MLB debut.  The club already showed some faith in Cameron by adding him to the 40-man roster last November, in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.

Cameron was a seventh-round pick for the Royals in the 2021 draft, and he made a great accounting for himself with a 2.32 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, and 6.7% walk rate over 54 1/3 innings with Triple-A Omaha last season.  Baseball America ranks Cameron as the eighth-best prospect in the Kansas City farm system, describing him as “a finesse lefthander” with an interesting four-pitch arsenal, highlighted by a 60-grade changeup.  Cameron’s fastball touched the 96mph threshold last season but he generally throws the pitch in the early 90s, still getting good results due to “the deceptive life on the pitch and its good vertical carry.”

The Royals also signed veteran swingman Ross Stripling to a minors deal last week, adding to the list of rotation candidates.  One name not mentioned as part of the competition is Jonathan Bowlan, since Rogers says the Royals see the right-hander as a relief pitcher heading into 2025.  Using Bowlan as a reliever could allow K.C. to take better advantage of his one remaining minor league option year, plus Rogers writes that Bowlan’s stuff “probably ticks up in short stints.”

Bowlan has worked as a starter for most of his minor league career, but he came out of the bullpen in 19 of his 35 appearances in Omaha last season.  The splits were telling, as Bowlan had a 2.77 ERA in 26 relief innings and a 5.58 ERA across 80 2/3 innings as a starter, as well as a much lower walk rate as a reliever.

Since Bowlan’s walk rate had started to tick upward over his last couple of minor league seasons, this improved control is a particularly interesting sign.  Working as a reliever might also help Bowlan get more of a foothold in the big leagues, as his MLB resume consists of three appearances and 5 2/3 innings over the last two seasons, with Bowlan posting a 7.94 ERA in that small sample size.

In other Royals prospect news, one of Kansas City’s top minor leaguers hit a significant setback, as Blake Mitchell will undergo surgery to fix a fractured right hamate bone.  (Manager Matt Quatraro revealed the news to Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star and other reporters.)  Mitchell will need 4-6 weeks of recovery time, meaning Mitchell will miss the rest of spring camp, and will need to participate in extended Spring Training to make up for the lost prep time.  Hamate injuries aren’t usually too serious, yet it will cut into some important development time for the 20-year-old backstop.

Mitchell was the eighth overall pick of the 2023 draft, and was a fixture within the top-100 prospect lists this spring — ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked him highest as the 42nd-best prospect in the sport.  Mitchell is already considered a solid defensive catcher, and he hit .232/.368/.424 with 18 home runs over 486 plate appearances last season, almost all of which came at A-level Columbia.  Pundits are mixed on Mitchell’s future as a hitter, but he has solid power potential and some unusual strength on the basepaths for a catcher.  Despite a lack of speed, Mitchell still stole 26 bags in 33 attempts last year.

Red Sox Notes: Third Base, Giolito, Murphy

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The Red Sox have been dealing with some tension around the infield this spring, as their recent acquisition of Alex Bregman has led to questions about where Bregman—and, by extension, Rafael Devers—will play in 2024. Bregman is the superior defender at third base, but Devers to publicly emphasized that his position is third base. Meanwhile, team officials have refused to declare either Devers or Bregman the starting third baseman to this point. Today, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow spoke to reporters (including MassLive’s Sean McAdam) about the situation, and downplayed the severity of any clubhouse issues that could arise over the team’s infield alignment.

“I think having really good players that are talking about positions is not a terrible place to be in,” Breslow said, as relayed by McAdam. “…my obligation is to put the best team on the field, on both offense and defense that I can possibly can… So we’ll continue to have those conversations.”

Breslow’s comments seem to clearly indicate that the club has no intention of handing him the third base job out of respect for his tenure at the position. Given that the club seems to be staying the course of determining its infield alignment based on performance this spring, Breslow noted that he has confidence in the ability of manager Alex Cora to handle any concerns within the clubhouse resulting from the ongoing battle for third base.

“But part of the reason we as an organization feel that Alex is the perfect manager for the Red Sox is his ability to command a clubhouse, his ability to communicate with players across different cultures and ethnicities.” Breslow said, as relayed by McAdam. “He’s such a great communicator. …any time you have a talent roster, there are players who are going to want more playing time or fill different roles. You rely on the manager to be able to have those conversations and get everybody moving in the same direction.”

Should Bregman ultimately be installed at the hot corner with Devers moving to DH, Cora’s ability to communicate and command the clubhouse may be put to the test. Devers has long maintained his desire to stick at third base and has clearly expressed a very strong preference to remain at the hot corner all throughout his career, and Cora himself has even acknowledged that Devers was promised that he’d be the club’s third baseman long term when he signed a 10-year extension with the club prior to the 2023 season. Of course, that pact came under former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom rather than Breslow, opening the door to the tensions the Red Sox are facing today.

Elsewhere on the roster, the Red Sox are dealing with a number of injury woes impacting their rotation. Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello, and Lucas Giolito are all behind at this point in camp due to various ailments, but Christopher Smith of MassLive relayed a positive update on the status of Giolito. While Giolito has been a bit slow out of the gate this year as he continues to recover from the internal brace procedure he underwent last spring, he noted earlier this winter that he expects to be ready for Opening Day. Per Smith, a major step in the right-hander’s process of preparing for the start of the season will take place tomorrow, when he’s scheduled to throw his first live batting practice since going under he knife last year.

Giolito’s status entering the season figures to take on outsized importance for the Red Sox given the fact that both Crawford and Bello are nursing injury situations of their own. Smith adds that Bello threw from 90 feet today as he battles back from a bout of shoulder soreness, and that his progression from here will be determined by a strength test later today. As for Crawford, the right-hander is still feeling discomfort due to his patellar tendon in long toss and bullpen sessions. It’s a worrying sign for the right-hander, who pitched through knee issues for much of the 2024 season. Those problems have lingered into the start of camp this year and appear to be putting Crawford’s availability for Opening Day in doubt.

In more pleasant injury news, Smith writes that southpaw Chris Murphy has resumed throwing bullpens after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in April. The southpaw isn’t expected to be a factor for the Red Sox in at least the early part of the year year, but Smith relays that Murphy hopes to pitch in the majors at some point in 2025 wouldn’t completely rule out a return in the first half of the season. For now, he’s taking things slowly with 10- and 15-pitch bullpen sessions, both of which featured exclusively fastballs.

A return late in the first half or even at some point in the second half would be a welcome development for the Red Sox, as the 26-year-old looked like an interesting piece during his rookie season back in 2023. The lefty appeared in 20 games for Boston as a multi-inning reliever, and while his 4.91 ERA in those 47 2/3 innings was fairly lackluster he still managed to open some eyes thanks to a solid 23.1% strikeout rate and a 3.70 FIP. Once he’s healthy, the southpaw could compete with players like Cooper Criswell and Josh Winckowski for a spot as a long man in the Red Sox bullpen this year.

Rangers Prospect Alejandro Rosario Likely To Miss 2025 Season With Elbow Injury

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Right-handed Rangers pitching prospect Alejandro Rosario is likely to miss the 2025 season due to an elbow injury, president of baseball operations Chris Young told reporters (including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). Rosario will require surgery, though Young was reluctant to offer any concrete details.

“It’s likely UCL,” Young said, as relayed by Landry. “I don’t want to officially say, but yeah, it’s elbow and will probably require Tommy John.”

The 23-year-old was a fifth-round pick by the Rangers in the 2023 draft. It’s a brutal blow for the righty, who was nothing short of sensational in his first season as a pro in 2024. He split the year between Single-A and High-A, pitching to a sterling 2.24 ERA overall with 88 1/3 innings of work. He struck out an incredible 36.9% of opponents faced in total last year while walking just 3.7% of batters. It was a massive leap forward for a player who never posted an ERA below 5.00 during his collegiate career.

Unfortunately, that incredible breakout will be put on hold for the 2025 campaign. While specifics of what exact procedure Rosario will undergo have not yet been made public, even an internal brace procedure comes with about a year of rehab time, with full Tommy John requiring a longer rehab that would likely stretch into the 2026 season. Rosario appeared on track to either start 2025 at Double-A or earn a promotion to the level early in the campaign, but those plans will have to be scuttled for the year. That seems likely to delay his big league debut until 2027 at the earliest, surely a disappointing development for both the Rangers and the righty himself.

Fortunately for Texas, they’re hardly short on starting pitching options for the 2025 campaign. Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, Jon Gray, Tyler Mahle, and Cody Bradford currently project as the club’s starting five on Opening Day, with Dane Dunning also on the roster as a potential swing man. That roster is supplemented by a handful of young prospects, including former first-round picks Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter. Both of them made their big league debuts in 2024; Leiter struggled through 35 2/3 innings of work with an 8.83 ERA, though he did pitch to a 3.51 ERA in 77 innings of work at the Triple-A level. That’s a particularly impressive figure given the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League and his excellent 33.3% strikeout rate.

Rocker, meanwhile, showed out in a three-start cup of coffee late in the year with a 3.86 ERA and 3.68 FIP. He was even better in the minors, with just three earned runs allowed across seven starts between the Double- and Triple-A levels last year after returning from Tommy John surgery earlier in the year. The presence of Leiter and Rocker, as well as other youngsters like Emiliano Teodo, should help the Rangers to weather Rosario’s delayed big league timeline even as Gray and Mahle head for free agency after the 2025 season.

Rangers Sign Kevin Pillar To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced this morning that they’ve signed outfielder Kevin Pillar to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training.

Pillar, 36, is a veteran of 12 MLB seasons. After getting his start as a 32nd-round pick with the Blue Jays back in 2011, he made his big league debut in 2013 and has fashioned a solid career for himself as a glove-first outfielder who can provide some offense against left-handed pitching. His peak seasons as Toronto’s everyday center fielder where he posted 8.2 fWAR and 14.0 bWAR from 2015 to 2018 are long behind him, but in more recent years he’s transitioned into being a serviceable fourth or fifth outfielder for a variety of MLB clubs.

In 2024, Pillar started the season with the White Sox but struggled badly through 17 games. The veteran was cut by Chicago but managed to find a job with the Angels in Anaheim after Mike Trout went down for the year due to a meniscus issue. Pillar joined the club’s outfield mix and did fairly well for himself, appearing in 83 games for the club while primarily playing center field. In 282 trips to the plate for the Halos, Pillar slashed .236/.291/.378 with a decent 88 wRC+ that suggested he was a touch below league average as a hitter. That’s perfectly serviceable for a depth piece, but Pillar notably crushed left-handed pitching with a .310/.352/.500 slash line against southpaws last year.

That seems to suggests he could be more productive on a team with a deeper outfield mix who can offer him more platoon protection against right-handed hitters, and that makes the Rangers a decent fit for his services despite their full outfield mix. Wyatt Langford and Adolis Garcia are expected to be the club’s regular outfielders in the corners, with Evan Carter getting regular reps in center field and Leody Taveras serving as the club’s fourth outfielder. Taveras is a somewhat imperfect complement to the lefty-swinging Carter in center, however, as he’s just a .231/.291/.320 hitter for his career against southpaws including a dismal .189/.270/.244 showing against them last year.

Taveras, who is controlled through the end of the 2027 season and is making just $4.75MM this year, has been bandied about as a potential trade candidate throughout the winter thanks to his questionable fit on the Rangers’ roster and the club’s desire to stay under the first threshold of the luxury tax this year. The club was reportedly receiving interest in Taveras as recently as the end of January, though now that Spring Training has begun the odds of any trade getting done have gone down significantly. Even so, bringing Pillar into the fold offers the Rangers insurance against injury following a season where Carter was limited to just 45 games by back issues while also potentially giving them the flexibility to listen to offers on Taveras more seriously than they would have if trading him would’ve forced them to rely on Garcia or Langford as their backup center fielder.

JB Bukauskas Sidelined By “Significant” Lat Injury

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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.

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