Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams received devastating news from spine specialist Dr. Robert Watkins. The Crew’s closer had elected to seek out an opinion outside of the Brewers medical staff after some back discomfort crept up. Unfortunately the latest news is that he will miss a minimum of 12 weeks.
Devin Williams has stress fractures in his back and will miss a minimum of 12 weeks.
Jeff Passan of ESPN was the first to report the injury diagnosis and prognosis. Passan noted that Williams’ pitched through some back soreness last September and the issue returned this spring. He also noted that his T12 bilateral stress fractures will be treated without surgery and the plan going forward is to be shut down/rest for six weeks and then rehab for another six weeks. A mid-season return is expected.
Who will be the Milwaukee Brewers closer going forward?
Brewers media has not yet met with manager Pat Murphy, but some guesses can be made as to who may be the closer going forward. Joel Payamps was the teams eighth inning set up man last year so theoretically he would be the first in line to get a crack at saving games. Abner Uribe has perhaps the most upside with his arm and also pitched in high leverage situations last year during his rookie campaign.
Outside of Payamps and Uribe it is possible that Milwaukee utilizes a closer by committee approach. Elvis Peguero could make some sense, Trevor MeGill has electric stuff, newcomer Bryan Hudson has been dominant in spring training so far, and prospect Jacob Misiorowski is an intriguing name to consider converting to the bullpen short term.
What does this mean for Devin Williams future?
According to all reports Devin Williams is expected to make a full recovery and return to the high level that he was previously at. Should things not go as expected it is worth re-visiting the fact that the Brewers and Williams agreed to a new contract this off-season in which he is getting paid $7.00 million this year and has a $10.5 million club option for 2025 (250k buyout).
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