MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers are recommending another surgery for center fielder Garrett Mitchell after he reinjured his left shoulder on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville late last week, marking the latest setback for the star-crossed 2020 first-round Draft pick.
Brewers head physician Dr. William Raasch diagnosed Mitchell with a bony Bankart lesion -- essentially a fracture of the shoulder socket along with a detached labrum -- and he is recommending a surgery that, according to manager Pat Murphy, would sideline Mitchell for at least eight to 10 weeks.
Mitchell was in the process of getting a second opinion from Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, the club said.
It was ElAttrache who repaired the same shoulder in April 2023, after Mitchell sustained a dislocation sliding into third base, the first of several setbacks that have prevented the five-tool Southern Californian from fulfilling the promise he showed while logging an .832 OPS after a late-season callup to the Majors in ‘22.
“That kid’s been through a lot,” Murphy said. “Four years of trying to make it through a full season. My heart goes out to him and his family. It’s really tough.”
Mitchell, a Type 1 diabetic who successfully managed the condition to become a star at UCLA and the 20th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, has missed significant time with injuries in each season since. In ‘21, Mitchell was sidelined nearly two months by a left knee injury. In ‘22, it was an oblique issue.
In 2023, Mitchell played 16 games for the Brewers before injuring his left shoulder in Seattle, and while Mitchell was able to play three more games at the end of the regular season, he was left off the postseason roster. In ‘24, he fractured his left index finger during the final week of Spring Training and didn’t debut until July 1.
The second half of that season provided Mitchell’s first opportunity to show the kind of big leaguer he could be when healthy. He had an .812 OPS in 69 games over the final three months of the regular season, then Mitchell hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning of the Brewers’ 5-3 win over the Mets in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series, putting Mitchell alongside Paul Molitor as the only players in franchise history to hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning or later of a postseason game.
But this season, the injury bug bit again. Mitchell was Milwaukee’s Opening Day center fielder, but he suffered a left oblique strain on April 25 in St. Louis and landed back on the IL. He began a rehab assignment in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League on June 14 and was playing his third Triple-A game when he reinjured his shoulder during a three-hit game against Iowa on Friday.
With Mitchell and 2024 Gold Glove Award finalist Blake Perkins (fractured right shin) on the IL for most of this season, second-year star Jackson Chourio has been manning center field for the Brewers. But lately there’s been progress for Perkins, who has been playing in Arizona for the past week and a half and is scheduled to move up to Triple-A Nashville on Thursday, according to Murphy.
Also headed to Nashville is right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who is set to begin a third rehab assignment on Saturday or Sunday in Jacksonville. Woodruff, attempting a comeback from October 2023 right shoulder surgery, saw previous rehab assignments scuttled by a right ankle injury and a line drive off his pitching elbow.
This latest assignment could be brief, since he threw 60 pitches in a simulated game in Milwaukee on Monday. If Woodruff is able to push to around 80 pitches this weekend, he could be ready to make his long-awaited return to the Brewers’ rotation.