The Brewers announced that left-hander DL Hall has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. They opened a 40-man roster spot last week when right-hander Joel Payamps was designated for assignment but are now back to an even 40. Righty Logan Henderson has been optioned to Triple-A Nashville as the corresponding active roster move.
Hall was diagnosed with a lat strain back in February. He was placed on the 60-day IL fairly quickly, getting put there in early March when the club signed Jose Quintana. That indicated the Brewers didn’t expect him to be available until late May but he has managed to get healthy right around that time frame. He started a rehab assignment earlier this month and was able to make four starts as part of that rehab.
The Milwaukee rotation has been in flux all year long. They came into the year knowing that Brandon Woodruff would need some more time to get fully healthy after his 2023 shoulder surgery. In addition to Hall’s injury, they also lost Aaron Civale, Nestor Cortes, Aaron Ashby and Quintana to the IL early on. That has led to pitchers like Henderson, Quinn Priester, Chad Patrick and others getting starts.
But the injury situation has been settling more recently. Civale and Ashby have come off the IL in the past week, though Ashby has joined the bullpen rather than the rotation. Hall is now back as well with Woodruff likely to be reinstated in the next week or two.
As the group gets a bit less snakebit, Henderson has been nudged out despite a strong start to his career. Through four starts, he has a 1.17 earned run average. He’s not going to maintain a 100% strand rate nor his .256 batting average on balls in play, but his 35.8% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate are both strong figures. He has fairly similar strikeout and walk numbers in his minor league work so he should get another rotation opportunity in the future.
For now, it’s possible Hall will get a shot to put a stretch of good outings together, something that he has been hard-pressed to do. The Brewers sent Corbin Burnes to the Orioles in February of 2024 for Joey Ortiz, Hall and a competitive balance round draft pick. The lefty dealt with a knee sprain last year, which limited his workload. He logged 43 big league innings and another 41 in the minors. As mentioned, a lat strain has been the culprit this year.
Though he was once a top prospect, he hasn’t been able to build a sizeable track record thanks to those injuries and the O’s largely using him in relief. He debuted back in 2022 but still has just 76 big league innings under his belt. Assuming Hall is taking a rotation spot, he will slot in next to Civale, Priester, Patrick and Freddy Peralta. If Woodruff is able to return soon, he’ll push someone else out of that group.
A few stars could align for the Brewers to trade some pitching this summer. They are currently 26-28 and 4.5 games back of a playoff spot. Even if they manage to gain some ground there, it wouldn’t be a shock for them to trade some of their veteran arms. Peralta is in the final guaranteed year of his deal, though with an affordable $8MM club option for 2026. Civale, Cortes, Quintana and Woodruff are all impending free agents and making decent money. Quintana and Woodruff have mutual options for 2026 but those are almost never picked up.
Perhaps the Brewers could make some of those pitchers available, especially since they have some strong replacements on hand. In addition to Henderson now being in Nashville, the Brewers have Tobias Myers and Jacob Misiorowski there as well. It may lead to a situation where the club is able to flip a veteran or two, adding talent elsewhere while opening opportunities for younger and more controllable pitchers.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images