9:00AM: Harrison provided a positive update to reporters (including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) today, saying he is “not too worried” about the injury. Harrison won’t resume throwing for a few days but said his arm is already feeling better than on Wednesday.
8:22AM: The Brewers have placed left-hander Kyle Harrison on the 15-day injured list due to left forearm tightness. The placement is retroactive to July 9. Left-hander Robert Gasser was called up from Triple-A Nashville to take Harrison’s spot on the active roster.
Harrison last pitched on Wednesday, and told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) in the aftermath of the start that he had been “battling the last couple weeks” with discomfort on the outside of his left elbow. Both Harrison and Brewers manager Pat Murphy downplayed the seriousness of the injury and felt the southpaw’s condition would improve just with the added rest of the All-Star break.
This IL placement may be just a method of formalizing Harrison’s rest period and allowing him to skip at least one start after the break. However, the rather ominous designation of the injury as forearm tightness may indicate that testing has revealed something more serious, or Harrison’s arm is just not recovering well three days after pitching.
It seems like trying to pitch through the discomfort only caught up to Harrison recently, as he has allowed six earned runs over only 6 2/3 total innings in his last two starts. Even with these couple of duds on his record, Harrison’s ERA is up to only 3.01 over 83 2/3 innings of what has been a breakout season for the former top prospect. Acquired from the Red Sox as part of a six-player offseason trade, Harrison has backed up that solid ERA with outstanding strikeout (29.6%) and walk (5.9%) rates.
Between Harrison’s performance, the eye-popping numbers of ace Jacob Misiorowski, and solid production from the likes of Brandon Woodruff, Shane Drohan, and Logan Henderson, Milwaukee has (again) fielded one of the best rotations in baseball. The pitching has held up despite quite a few notable injuries, including Woodruff recently returning to the 15-day IL due to a new issue with his balky right shoulder.
Even if Harrison’s IL placement is more on the precautionary side and he is able to return in minimal time, the Brewers are still likely to be looking to add pitching at the deadline. Milwaukee has some breathing room in the form of its 7.5-game lead over the second-place Cubs in the NL Central race, but it can’t feel good for the Brewers to have Harrison and Woodruff (two of its top three starters in a playoff series) both sidelined at the All-Star break. If both starters are still health question marks as August 3 approaches, the Brew Crew may feel more motivated to make a higher-profile rotation addition.
