The Brewers announced that outfielder Sal Frelick has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder strain. Outfielder Blake Perkins was called up from Triple-A to take Frelick’s place on the 26-man roster.
Manager Pat Murphy implied yesterday that an IL stint was coming for Frelick after his early exit from Friday’s 2-1 win over the Marlins. Murphy said Frelick hurt his shoulder while making a throw from right field in the top of the fourth inning, and Luis Lara replaced Frelick in the field in the top of the fifth.
Speaking with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak and other reporters today, Frelick said he has been battling shoulder soreness for around two months, and a past scan revealed nothing more than inflammation. The discomfort was just limited to throwing until the last couple of weeks, when Frelick said “I started feeling it swinging, not as bad as throwing but it was creeping in there.” Four days of rest over the All-Star break didn’t help, and Frelick said that on Friday, his arm felt “pretty dead.”
Playing through pain could explain Frelick’s significant declines in both his offense and defense from 2025. After hitting .288/.351/.405 over 594 plate appearances last year, Frelick has slumped to a .236/.301/.330 slash line in 313 PA this season. A Gold Glove winner in 2024 and a finalist again last season, Frelick’s 677 2/3 innings in right field this year have resulted in much more middling grades (+1 Outs Above Average and a -1 Defensive Runs Saved). It all added up to a sub-replacement -0.2 fWAR for Frelick over 90 games this season, after he posted +3.6 fWAR in 2025.
Milwaukee could now look to add an outfielder at the trade deadline if Frelick is still out of action or if the team simply wants an upgrade. Top prospect Lara is also a natural candidate to get more playing time, and Jake Bauers has seen some time in right field when he hasn’t been used as a first baseman, left fielder, or DH. Perkins is a glove-first backup type who is probably more suited as a fourth outfielder than a regular part of a platoon.
