Brewers Righty Loses Roster Battle After Minor Injury Setback

Logan Henderson looked like a huge part of the Milwaukee Brewers' rotation plans entering spring training, but he couldn't quite stay on track for opening day.

Due to some minor elbow discomfort that kept him out of Cactus League action for the past two weeks, Henderson wasn't built up enough to throw four or five innings in the majors in the first few weeks of the season. Rather than starting him on the injured list, the Brewers decided to use one of his available minor-league options.

Henderson became one of the Brewers' spring training roster cuts on Thursday, alongside outfielder Blake Perkins and corner infielder Tyler Black. All three were optioned to Triple-A Nashville, per the official transactions log.

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What Brewers are saying about Henderson's option

If Henderson can take solace in anything, it's that his "demotion," if you can even call it that, was not based on performance. He had a 1.78 ERA in his brief major league debut this season, striking out 33 batters over 25 1/3 innings over five regular-season starts.

Manager Pat Murphy described the logic behind the move, which could set Henderson up to return to the rotation early in the season, but doesn't seem guaranteed unless Milwaukee is satisfied with how he's progressing between starts.

“Part of this move is to make sure he can go post regularly,” Murphy said, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. “We’re not going to immediately build him up to five innings. We’re going to let him go two innings and see how he responds, two innings and see how he responds. Just make sure he’s responding each time because he’s had a history (with injuries).”

Reading the tea leaves, it would seem that two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff is now in a good position to open the season in the rotation after building up slowly from his late-season lat injury. Chad Patrick has already been named to the rotation, and Jacob Misiorowski could be the opening day starter after his up-and-down rookie campaign.

Henderson could be injury insurance, but he could also get a shot in the majors if someone like Brandon Sproat or Kyle Harrison struggles to start the year.