Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with what the team is calling a mild right hamstring strain.
Lucroy was fantastic last season, starting 133 games at catcher and hitting .301 with 13 homers, a league-leading 53 doubles, and an .837 OPS on the way to finishing fourth in the MVP balloting behind Clayton Kershaw, Giancarlo Stanton, and Andrew McCutchen.
Even missing the full six weeks would give Lucroy enough time to recover before Opening Day, but he’d be starting the season with basically zero spring training action and any setbacks in his rehab could lead to missed regular season games.
Martin Maldonado is the backup catcher and the Brewers liked him enough in that limited role to give him a two-year, $1.95 million deal in January, but he’s a 28-year-old career .225 hitter with a .651 OPS and logged just 126 plate appearances in 2014.
