Brewers offer update on Willy Adames after he was struck by foul ball

Brewers shortstop Willy Adames was struck by a foul ball while in the dugout during Friday night’s game. He was taken to a hospital for testing and will stay there overnight, manager Craig Counsell tells reporters, via Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The incident occurred in the second inning of Friday night’s game when Brian Anderson fouled a ball into the Milwaukee dugout. (Video courtesy of The Comeback.) Adames was removed from the game and taken to hospital for testing. While the incident initially led to much alarm, it seems that perhaps the worst has been avoided. Counsell says that Adames has no fractures and has remained responsive all night. They expect he will be released from hospital on Saturday, but he will be placed on the seven-day concussion injured list.

While the good news is that Adames seems to have avoided any kind of catastrophic injury, the club will still have to figure out how to proceed without their everyday shortstop for a while. He had been out to a slow start this year, hitting .205/.292/.384 through his first 214 plate appearances this season. But he’s coming off an excellent 2022 campaign where he hit 31 home runs and slashed .238/.298/.458 for a wRC+ of 109. He also stole eight bases and provided quality defense, leading to a tally of 4.7 wins above replacement last year, according to FanGraphs.

In terms of shortstop options on the roster, there’s Owen Miller, who has played the position a bunch in the minors but has just eight innings of major league experience there. Brice Turang is in a similar boat, with plenty of minor league experience at short but just 16 innings in the big leagues. Mike Brosseau is also in a similar situation with 19 2/3 innings of major league time at that spot. Luis Urías has more than 1,000 innings at the position and is perhaps the best option. He’s on the injured list right now but began a rehab assignment on Wednesday. He is on the 60-day IL and isn’t eligible to come off until Tuesday, when he would require a corresponding move.

How the club proceeds with its on-field plans remains to be seen. But for now, the main priority is the health of Adames after such a scary incident. More information will come on that as well but it seems like it could have been much worse, all things considered.