Brewer Hicklen Has Surgery to Fix ‘Nagging Injury'
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With the Kansas City Royals' minor league affiliates having wrapped up their seasons, players are wasting no time using their offseasons to prepare for what's to come in 2023.
Outfield prospect Brewer Hicklen is no different, and the 26-year-old announced on Tuesday that he's undergoing surgery. In an end-of-season Instagram post that saw Hicklen reflect on his accomplishments this year, he also briefly touched on a procedure he was set to have done that would "fix a nagging injury" that had been bothering him for months. Below is a section of his post:
I fell short of what could have been a historic season for me by 2 HR’s. 1 of 2 people in last 15 years to have 30 HR / 30 2B / 30 SB. I put my best forward and thankful for the team, family, and friends behind this wild journey . . .
Today, I’ll be having surgery to fix a nagging injury that has been with me for the last 2.5 months to help propel me to an epic 2023 season!
- Brewer Hicklen (@brewerhicklen) on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022 via Instagram
This year, Hicklen played 130 games with the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers and also spent six games with the Royals' big-league club. While the Alabama product went hitless in four plate appearances with Kansas City, he slashed .248/.348/.502 in Omaha and clobbered 28 home runs with 30 doubles and 35 stolen bases in the process. Hicklen finished the year just two home runs shy of becoming the second minor league player since 2010 to join the 30/30/30 club.
If Hicklen's injury did indeed stick with him for the better part of two months, his play sure didn't suffer a ton. From July 22 (his first game back after spending a while with the Royals) until the end of the 2022 MiLB season, he hit .224 but posted a .500 SLG, .827 OPS and 115 wRC+ with 14 home runs in 57 games. With that said, he did also strike out at an alarming 35.1% clip. That was consistent with his season-long figure of 36.1%, which remains one of the few glaring holes in Hicklen's game as a prospect.
With outfield playing time in 2023 seemingly up for grabs heading into the offseason, the hope for Hicklen is that he can get healthy and put up an impressive spring that will allow him to get promoted from Omaha once again. There isn't much more that he can do at the minor league level, although Kansas City does have some pieces to shuffle over the next few months before deciding on whether Hicklen will be a major part of the club's 2023 plans.
