MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers outfielder/designated hitter Christian Yelich is expected to miss at least a month with an adductor strain.
Yelich left in the fifth inning
of the Brewers’ 8-6 loss to the Washington Nationals on Sunday with what the team described as tightness in his left hamstring. The Brewers placed him on the injured list Tuesday, retroactive to Monday, and said he had a second-degree adductor strain.The Brewers estimated he would
return in mid-to-late May, though Yelich said he didn’t want to put a timeline on it.
“I’m just trying to go about it the best I can, do a good job with the rehab and get back out there as quickly as possible,” Yelich said.
Milwaukee also selected infielder/outfielder Greg Jones from Triple-A Nashville and transferred left-handed pitcher Rob Zastryzny to the 60-day injured list.
The 34-year-old Yelich was in the lineup as a designated hitter Sunday and said he started to feel something was off while grounding into a fielder’s choice in the first inning. He stayed in the game and grounded out in the third before getting pulled for a pinch hitter in the fifth.
“After running to first in the first inning, it just kind of felt weird,” Yelich said. “I just thought it was tight, kept going and after my (next) at-bat, I felt like it was weird.”
Milwaukee already had outfielder Jackson Chourio and first baseman Andrew Vaughn on the injured list due to hand issues. The Brewers said Tuesday that Chourio is expected to return in early May and Vaughn could come back in mid-May.
The Brewers also are playing without starting pitcher Quinn Priester (thoracic outlet) and reliever Jared Koenig (elbow). Milwaukee had lost five straight for its longest skid since 2003 as it prepared to open a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.
“We’ve had a lot of adversity early,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “We’ve faced this before. It just seems different in terms of how it’s kind of piled on us.”
Yelich, the 2018 NL MVP and a three-time All-Star, is hitting .314 with one home run, 10 RBIs and three steals in 15 games.
Murphy said Gary Sánchez probably will get much of the playing time at designated hitter in Yelich's absence.
Sánchez replaced Yelich in the fifth inning Sunday and hit a game-tying, three-run homer in the seventh. He entered Tuesday with four homers, matching Jake Bauers for the team lead.
Yelich is coming off a 2025 season in which he played 150 games – his second-highest total since joining the Brewers in 2018 – after back issues had limited him for multiple years.
He said this is the first time he has dealt with a soft-tissue injury. Now, he's the latest key player missing from Milwaukee's lineup.
“No one’s going to feel bad for us,” Yelich said. “You’ve got to navigate injuries and difficult parts of the season. The guys will be all right. Just kind of hold it down. It’s a really long year. There’s good times and bad times in a season. You’ve got to deal with adversity throughout.”
Jones, 28, was batting .317 with a .462 on-base percentage, no homers, seven RBIs and seven steals in 13 games with Triple-A Nashville. He was in the major leagues for six games with Colorado in 2024 and three with the Chicago White Sox last year.
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