Brewers Deliver Tough News on Quinn Priester's Injury Rehab

After year one with the Milwaukee Brewers was a dream for starting pitcher Quinn Priester, year two is proving to be a much tougher reality.

There's a fate much worse than struggling for starting pitchers these days: being unavailable due to injury. Priester, who took the ball for 157 1/3 innings in Milwaukee last season, felt some ill effects from the wrist issue he was dealing with last fall, and it turned out to be a form of thoracic outlet syndrome.

After beginning a rehab assignment on April 22, Priester has now been forced to shut things down. According to a report from Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the right-hander was returned from his rehab assignment on Monday, but remained on the injured list.

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What we know about Priester's recovery struggles

Oct 13, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Quinn Priester (46) throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second inning during game one of the NLCS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images | Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

While we may not have exact specifics of the setback Priester seems to have encountered, we know that his rehab assignment wasn't going particularly well. He'd allowed nine earned runs in just five innings with Triple-A Nashville, walking eight batters and letting up seven hits, including a home run.

Per Brewers beat reporter Adam McCalvy of MLB.com at the time of the rehab assignment beginning, the tentative timeline for Priester to return to the majors was the second week of May at the earliest. That would seem to be far-fetched at this point, and the larger question is whether anything was made worse by trying to ramp back up too quickly.

Fortunately, the Brewers' rotation is in decent shape even without Priester or two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff. Jacob Misiorowski is challenging for the major league lead in strikeouts, Kyle Harrison seems to be having a similar breakout this year that Priester experienced last year, and Logan Henderson pitched admirably in his first start back after being called up to replace Woodruff.

Again, we're still not entirely sure where Priester stands. But it seems safe to project that the Brewers will have to wait a good while longer to get him back to the level he found midway through last season, and if that were to happen at any point this year, it would have to be considered a win.

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