Milwaukee Brewers Get Positive Injury Updates on Pair of Outfielders
The Milwaukee Brewers, fighting to win the National League Central this season, got positive injury updates this week on outfielders Jesse Winker and Sal Frelick.
First, for Winker, per the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:
Winker (neck) has gone 5-for-13 with three solo home runs and four walks through the first five games of his rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville.
ANALYSIS
Even before he landed on the injured list May 30 with a cervical strain, Winker was enduring a rough first season in Milwaukee, slashing just .204/.315/.231 with a 24.4 percent strikeout rate over 127 plate appearances. Not only has Winker looked healthy during his rehab assignment, but he's finally started to show the power that he's been missing all season, as he's now left the yard three times with Nashville after failing to do with Milwaukee. Though the quality of competition has certainly helped Winker find some success of late, the productive run at Triple-A along with his prior track record at the big-league level may be reason enough to scoop up the 29-year-old off the waiver wire on speculation if he was dropped in deeper leagues. He'll likely be back with Milwaukee for its weekend series with Pittsburgh and should quickly reclaim primary designated-hitter duties from Jonathan Singleton.
If Winker is back to being the player he was with the Cincinnati Reds, that would be a huge development for both him and the Brewers. He was a .288 hitter in five years with the Reds before heading to Seattle and hitting just .219 for the Mariners a season ago.
As for Frelick, he's the No. 2 prospect in the organization behind Jackson Chourio.
Triple-A Nashville reinstated Frelick (thumb) from its 7-day injured list Wednesday.
ANALYSIS
Frelich has been cleared to play for Nashville for the first time since April 18 after he recently wrapped up a productive three-game rehab stint in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League, where he went 3-for-9 with two doubles and three walks. With Frelick having seemingly made a full recovery from left thumb surgery, he'll now turn his focus toward turning out a string of productive games at Nashville with the hope of earning his first big-league call-up at some point this summer.
The Brewers enter play on Wednesday at 34-33 and 1.0 game behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the division race. At the time of this posting, they trail the Minnesota Twins, 4-2, in the top of the eighth inning.
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