MLB Trade Rumors confirmed Saturday that the Brewers are placing left-hander Kyle Harrison on the 15-day injured list, pulling one of the more surprising success stories in baseball this year out of the rotation for at least two turns.
MLB Trade Rumors broke the news that Harrison is headed to the 15-day IL.
It caps off a strange, winding road for the 24-year-old. Harrison was once viewed as the future of the Giants' rotation before San Francisco shipped him to Boston last year in the blockbuster that brought Rafael Devers west. The Red Sox flipped him again in February, sending Harrison, David Hamilton and Shane Drohan to Milwaukee for a package built around Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio. Two trades in less than a year, and somehow he landed in the best spot of all.
Because once he got to Milwaukee, Harrison flat out took off. He entered play with an ERA hovering around 1.57, and he delivered maybe his signature moment of the season against his old team, striking out 12 Giants -- including three whiffs of Devers himself -- in a revenge game Brewers fans won't forget. That's the version of Harrison this injury threatens to interrupt.
The warning signs were there. Harrison had been dealing with soreness on the outside of his left elbow, something he first flagged after grinding through an early exit in a loss to the Cardinals. He pointed to the extensor muscles being stressed by the wider grip he uses on his new changeup, and at the time he said he wasn't "overly concerned." The timing lined up well too, with the ailment surfacing right before the All-Star break gave him extra rest.
Now the caution has turned official, and Milwaukee is without a rotation piece who's been arguably its best story of the season right as the deadline stretch heats up. A 15-day IL stint is nothing to panic over for a contender with pitching depth, but any elbow issue for a 24-year-old lefty is worth watching closely -- especially one who's finally looking like the ace the Giants once thought they had.