Brewers southpaw Jose Quintana is seeking a second on his ailing shoulder, according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Quintana was placed on the injured list due to a left shoulder impingement earlier this week after telling reporters he was dealing with inflammation in both his shoulder and biceps.
Prior to his placement on the IL, he was expected to take the ball for the club’s game against the Twins today. His placement on the 15-day IL earlier this week scuttled those plans and left him with an uncertain return date, though manager Pat Murphy told reporters (including those at MLB.com) that initial testing on Quintana’s injuries were “encouraging” and that the club was hoping for a minimum stint for the veteran. With that being said, the fact that he’s seeking a second opinion might suggest that the 36-year-old is ticketed for a longer absence than initially anticipated.
Signed by the Brewers in early March, Quintana began the 2025 season in the minor leagues so he could continue building up his pitch count ahead of joining the Milwaukee rotation after he got a late start to Spring Training. He eventually made his season debut in mid-April and went on to make six starts for the Brewers before hitting the shelf. He was generally very impressive over those six starts, with a 2.65 ERA despite a lackluster 17.4% strikeout rate. His 4.57 FIP is more in line with the performance of a back-end starter than the excellent production he’s offered the Brewers so far.
Of course, even that lesser figure is a significant loss for a Brewers club that’s already muddling through the early part of the season with a paper-thin rotation. Quintana is currently joined on the shelf by Aaron Ashby, Aaron Civale, Robert Gasser, DL Hall, Nestor Cortes, and Brandon Woodruff. That group of seven rotation arms on the injured list left the Brewers forced to recall Tobias Myers to the big league roster just days after he was optioned to the minors due to shaky performance, including just one more strikeout (11) than his walk total (10) on the season so far.
The good news for fans in Milwaukee is that reinforcements can be expected in the relatively near future regardless of Quintana’s ultimate timeline. Civale, Hall, and Ashby are all expected back in the fold either by the end of the month or early into the month of June, while Woodruff was initially poised to be activated from the shelf this weekend but suffered a setback due to some ankle tendinitis that has pushed that timeline back somewhat. According to Rosiak, he’ll throw a bullpen on Sunday before beginning another rehab assignment, though it’s not entirely clear how long this latest rehab assignment is expected to take.
In the meantime, the Brewers have reinserted Myers back into the rotation alongside Freddy Peralta, Chad Patrick, Quinn Priester, and Logan Henderson. Top prospect Jacob Misiorowski is dominating at the Triple-A level and seems likely to force the issue at some point this season, but he’s not yet on the 40-man roster and the club has offered few indications that he could be in the conversation for a promotion in the short term.