Brewers’ right-hander Jimmy Nelson is done for the season, the team announced Saturday. Nelson pitched through five innings during Friday’s 2-0 shutout over the Cubs, expending 79 pitches and fanning seven batters before exiting with right arm soreness prior to the sixth. He was diagnosed with a right rotator cuff strain and a partial anterior labrum tear on Saturday and will not return to the mound in 2017, though the specifics of his treatment and a timetable for his return have yet to be determined.
Per reports from MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, the injury was sustained on Nelson’s single off of John Lackey in the top of the fifth inning. Nelson sped past first base on the hit, then made a headfirst dive back to the bag. “It wasn’t extremely painful, it was just a weird feeling, a loose feeling,” Nelson told reporters following the game. He was able to return to the mound for another inning, but was lifted for precautionary reasons soon afterward.
Nelson, 28, is in his fifth campaign with the club. He carried a 12-6 record through 29 starts and turned in a career-best 3.49 ERA, 2.5 BB/9 and 10.2 SO/9 through 175 1/3 innings. This appears to be the first significant shoulder injury he’s sustained since his Double-A run in 2012, when he missed 26 days with a rotator cuff strain.
In his absence, the Brewers will try to stay afloat in the NL Central with minor league reinforcements, though a four-man rotation is also a possibility. McCalvy speculates that right-handers Taylor Jungmann and Aaron Wilkerson could be recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs and Double-A Biloxi, respectively. Jungmann went 8-2 in 16 starts with a 2.59 ERA, 3.9 BB/9 and 8.2 SO/9 for Colorado Springs, while Wilkerson dominated the Southern League with a 3.16 ERA, 2.3 BB/9 and 9.0 SO/9 through 142 1/3 innings.
