Brewers left-hander Aaron Ashby departed today’s Spring Training start in the second inning due to injury. After the game, manager Pat Murphy told Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the southpaw suffered an oblique strain. Murphy indicated that early tests suggest the injury will not necessitate a months-long absence. However, a firm timetable won’t be known until Ashby goes for further testing tomorrow.
It’s a setback in the 26-year-old’s efforts to secure a rotation spot. Ashby was probably ticketed for the bullpen following the team’s agreement with Jose Quintana on a $4.25MM free agent deal. Quintana can slot behind Freddy Peralta and alongside Nestor Cortes, Tobias Myers and Aaron Civale in the Opening Day rotation. Ashby may have been the top depth arm in the event that anyone else suffered a Spring Training injury. The Brewers don’t expect Brandon Woodruff to be ready for Opening Day after he lost the 2024 season to shoulder surgery. DL Hall suffered a lat strain last month and will be down for several weeks.
Any kind of significant oblique issue would ensure Ashby begins the season on the injured list as well. That’d leave swingman Tyler Alexander as the only healthy depth starter on the 40-man roster who has more than a few weeks of major league service. Inexperienced pitchers Carlos Rodriguez, Chad Patrick, Logan Henderson and Elvin Rodriguez are on the 40-man. Bruce Zimmermann and Thomas Pannone are in camp as non-roster invitees.
Even if he didn’t crack the rotation, a healthy Ashby would probably begin the season in the bullpen. He impressed in a multi-inning relief role last year. Ashby turned in a 2.86 earned run average across 28 1/3 innings. He fanned 27.7% of opponents while getting ground-balls at a massive 58.6% clip. His lone playoff appearance was a disaster — he allowed all five baserunners to reach in his outing in the Wild Card Series against the Mets — but his MLB regular season numbers were strong. Few pitchers have the ability to get both whiffs and grounders at the rates that he can.
That upside convinced the Brewers to sign the former fourth-round pick to a $20.5MM extension three years ago. While he continues to flash a significant ceiling, he has yet to find consistency. That’s mostly on account of injury. Ashby battled shoulder problems almost immediately after signing the extension in July 2022. He underwent an arthroscopic shoulder procedure the following April that cost him the entire ’23 season. He returned to health last season but could not find the strike zone with any kind of regularity while working as a starter in Triple-A.
Ashby was torched for more than eight earned runs per nine across 84 minor league frames, largely because of an untenable 17.4% walk rate. He started 14 of his 25 appearances. His strong finish at the MLB level came in 1-2 inning stints out of the bullpen. Ashby’s long-term future might well be in relief, but Murphy said at the start of the offseason that Milwaukee wasn’t willing to abandon hope of him sticking as a starter.