Brewers don’t think Hiura’s arm fatigue is major issue
One of the biggest concerns for major-league clubs with speeding through a three-week training camp is players coming up with various aches and pains before the delayed 60-game season gets underway.
That’s what the Brewers think happened with second baseman Keston Hiura, who was scratched from the lineup for the team’s intrasquad game Wednesday night with right arm fatigue.
“At this point, we’re not particularly concerned about it,” Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said Thursday during his weekly Zoom session with reporters. “Obviously, his volume (of work) here has ramped up pretty quickly.
“We’ll probably give him a couple days off and then take it from there. But, at this point, we don’t see this as something that is potentially lingering.”
Stearns said he didn’t think the issue was related to the elbow problem Hiura dealt with at UC-Irvine leading up to being the Brewers’ first-round draft pick in 2017. He did not play in the field that junior year while protecting a partial UCL tear that eventually healed without surgery.
“The issue that Keston battled in college was ligament-related,” Stearns said. “This does not appear at all to be ligament related and is maybe more just fatigue. So, we’re going to continue to evaluate it. I have not talked to him today, so I don’t know how he’s feeling. I saw him after the scrimmage (Wednesday) night and he did not seem particularly concerned about it.”
Anderson has finger blister
Another issue that surfaced Wednesday night was a blister on the index finger of the pitching hand of veteran lefty Brett Anderson, who exited the intrasquad game after two innings because of it. With blisters, it’s more a problem of it healing in a timely fashion without getting worse through throwing.
“It’s something that he’s kind of been fighting over the past week,” Stearns said. “He will be ‘no throw’ for a couple of days and then see where the blister is at that point. We’ll certainly know more by the end of the weekend, Monday-ish, as how the blister is responding.”
Anderson had been lined up behind No. 1 starter Brandon Woodruff during intrasquad action and any blister with only a week remaining before the season puts a pitcher in danger of opening on the injured list. Stearns was asked if that could happen with Anderson
“I think it’s a possibility,” he said. “I wouldn’t rule it out. But, I also wouldn’t want to lead anyone that way when this just happened. When you potentially are missing a little time at this point in camp, (eight) days out from opening day, that raises questions. But I don’t think we’re at the point where we’re ready to commit one way or the other on that.”
Urías remains on COVID list
Infielder Luis Urías, who tested positive for COVID-19 before players underwent intake testing at the outset of summer camp, remains on that injured list. Players who test positive remain inactive until they have consecutive negative tests, at least 24 hours apart.
“He is still in the protocol,” Stearns said. “He remains asymptomatic but we haven’t gotten those two consecutive negative tests that you need to get him out of the protocol. This is something that we’re going to be dealing with the entire year (when players test positive). Every club is.
“You just don’t know how long it takes to shed the virus. Sometimes, it’s gone pretty quickly and sometimes it can take weeks or even months. I know Luis is enormously frustrated, especially since he feels completely healthy. He feels like he can be on the baseball field right now.
“He feels like he can be ready for opening day. But, clearly, we have protocols in place for a reason and we need to follow them.”
The only luck Urías has had this year is bad luck. He broke the hamate bone in his left hand playing winter ball and missed most of spring training in Arizona. Just as he was ready to return, camps were shut down by the pandemic. Now, asymptomatic or not, he has been shut down by COVID-19.
The other player acquired in the offseason trade with San Diego, left-hander Eric Lauer, was placed in the protocol because he came in close contact with someone who tested positive. Lauer has joined camp and thrown his first bullpen session but might not get enough action to be ready for the opening roster.
“Again, probably TBD on Eric as to whether he’s able to get fully in a spot he needs to be for opening day,” Stearns said.
Hey, they’re “out-getters”
Right-hander Corbin Burnes had the best outing of camp thus far Wednesday night, retiring all 12 batters he faced with seven strikeouts. Asked if Burnes was locking down a spot in the rotation, Stearns smiled and reminded folks that the Brewers like to blur the lines between starters and relievers, focusing more on getting 27 outs each game.
“I really encourage everyone, especially in a season like this, at the front end with a 30-man roster and the number of pitchers we’re likely to carry – to avoid being preoccupied with who is taking the ball first and who is coming in behind him,” Stearns said.
“Corbin is going to pitch valuable innings for us this year. I have no doubt about that, even more so if he continues to throw the ball as he has thrown, not only in this camp but the way he looked in the first camp as well. Where exactly he’s taking the ball, at what portion of the game, we haven’t determined yet.
“It’s probably going to change over the course of the season as it always does but, really, with the number of pitchers we’re going to have, and you guys have seen us do this before, it’s going to look a little bit more like September, at least in the front end of the season. And that means we can do things a little more creatively and part of that is certainly going to be making sure that Corbin gets sufficient innings.”
All games will be on TV, radio
The Brewers announced their broadcast schedule Thursday for the delayed, shortened 2020 season, with all 60 games on both television and radio.
FS Wisconsin, the Brewers’ home television network, will broadcast 58 games, beginning with the season opener on Friday, July 24, against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The two remaining games, July 25 against the Cubs in Chicago and Sept. 26 against the Cardinals in St. Louis, are scheduled to be nationally televised on Fox (Channel 6 in Milwaukee).
In addition to the FS Wisconsin telecasts, four Sunday home games will air on Telemundo: Aug. 9 vs. Cincinnati, Aug. 30 vs. Pittsburgh, Sept. 13 vs. the Cubs, and Sept. 20 vs. Kansas City.
FS Wisconsin also will broadcast the Brewers’ exhibition game at 7:10 p.m. July 22 against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. The game will also air on radio on WTMJ-AM (620).
Brian Anderson and Matt Lepay again will share play-by-play duties along with analyst Bill Schroeder and sideline reporter Sophia Minnaert. Craig Coshun and Dario Melendez will host “Brewers Live” with analyst Jerry Augustine.
Fans can listen to all 60 games on WTMJ and the Brewers Radio Network, with Hall of Famer Bob Uecker calling his 50th season accompanied by Jeff Levering and Lane Grindle.
Camp Appleton set to open
The Brewers’ Alternate Training Site in Appleton has begun intake testing for COVID-19 and is tentatively scheduled to open Saturday. Thirteen players already have been assigned there, including many of the organization’s top prospects, and the 15 cut from the Brewers’ camp will join them before the regular season begins.
Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers coach Matt Erickson, who lives in Appleton, will help run that camp along with instructors Jake McKinley, Cam Castro, Ed Lucas, Nestor Corredor and Jim Henderson, among others.
“We’re going to have a really good variety of coaches,” Stearns said. “A nice variety of skill sets and some guys we feel like can help our players there.”
With no opposing teams to play, action will consist mainly of workouts, simulated games and intrasquad competition.
“It’s going to be a challenge for both our coaches and players to keep up that level of intensity over two-plus months with what we’re going to ask them to do,” Stearns said. “I think you can turn anything into a competition. Professional athletes are enormously competitive individuals.
“So, I have a feeling that to the extent they are doing individual skill work, drill work out there in addition to their scrimmages, there will probably be a competitive nature to it.”
Gold takes 2-0 lead
The Gold won again, 3-0, Wednesday night to take the first two games of the “Blue & Gold World Series” in intrasquad action at Miller Park. Burnes started for the Gold and made sure the Blue never got anything going.
Omar Narváez delivered the big blow with a two-run homer in the second inning off Anderson, the third two-run homer for the Gold in the first two games. Orlando Arcia delivered the other run with an RBI single in the fourth off lefty Alex Claudio.