The Brewers reinstated left-hander Aaron Ashby from the 15-day injured list ahead of his Saturday start against the Pirates. Righty Trevor Kelley was optioned to Triple-A to open up a 26-man roster spot.
Following his (retroactive) IL placement on June 17, Ashby ended up missing only a minimal amount of time — a sigh of relief, given that he had been sidelined by forearm inflammation. The injury wasn’t considered to be too serious at the time, and Ashby will indeed make a pretty quick return to help a Milwaukee rotation that has been shorthanded for much of the season. Even with Ashby and (earlier this week) Brandon Woodruff returning, Freddy Peralta is still on the 60-day IL until late July, and Adrian Houser was just placed on the 15-day IL Friday due to a flexor strain.
Ashby will try to pick up the slack by continuing what has been a pretty solid sophomore year in the big leagues. Beginning the season as a swingman, Ashby’s last five outings were all as a starting pitcher. The left-hander has a 4.25 ERA over 55 total innings, posting a 62.6% grounder rate and an impressive array of Statcast numbers, apart from a 10.7% walk rate that is well below the league average. Control has been something of an issue for Ashby at both the MLB and minor league levels, but his ability to miss bats and generate grounders makes him yet another intriguing product of the Brewers’ pitching development system.
In other Brewers injury news, manager Craig Counsell told reporters that Luis Perdomo is “struggling to get going” from an elbow injury that sent him to the IL back in late May, via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Perdomo underwent a Tommy John surgery that cost him the entire 2021 season, but Counsell didn’t give any indication that Perdomo’s current issue was also season-threatening, or something that could require another surgical procedure.
Hunter Renfroe will also still miss a bit more time, as MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy writes that Renfroe has yet to start running on the field following a calf strain that sent him to the injured list more than a week ago. Renfroe’s 10-day minimum IL time expires on Sunday, but the Brewers will continue to be cautious in bringing Renfroe back, for fear of exacerbating the injury. Renfroe had 13 home runs and a .247/.300/.490 slash line over his first 217 plate appearances this season.
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