NEW YORK -- Garrett Mitchell's left shoulder surgery went as planned on Tuesday, but after initially leaving open the possibility of a return to action later this season, the Brewers now say the 26-year-old former first-round Draft pick will target 2026 Spring Training for a return to baseball activity.
That’s according to manager Pat Murphy, who had previously hoped Mitchell might be able to help the Brewers at the end of the regular season or in a potential postseason situation.
“They feel like [surgery] went really well,” Murphy said. “When they think about returning to play, they think he would be hard-pressed.”
Murphy said he’d been in touch with 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, but has missed significant time with injuries in each season since.
In 2021, Mitchell was sidelined nearly two months by a left knee injury. In '22, it was an oblique issue. In '23, 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.
This season, 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 June 20.
“The kid has really had a tough go in the last four years,” Murphy said. “But he’s contributed in that time, so he’s established himself that, ‘Hey, I can help a ballclub.’ Those are the positives.
“The next half of this story could be a great one, fighting through all of this adversity and then becoming a mainstay who never gets hurt, you know? That happens.”
Mitchell will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason, and the Brewers will have to decide in November whether to tender him a contract and proceed in that process. He’s represented by agent Scott Boras.