Brewers react to 'devasting' injury for Christian Yelich

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee Brewers know they will be continuing the 2024 season without their former MVP outfielder in Christian Yelich.

Brewers' general manager Matt Arnold shared that he and manager Pat Murphy spoke with Yelich earlier in the week about where things stood.

"We all know how much he cares about this team, and so it was a pretty emotional conversation for all of us, honestly," said Arnold. "This is going to be something that is going to be a positive for us in the future."

Arnold told reporters that Yelich was home and resting comfortably following his surgery on Friday, August 16.

"He was in a lot of pain. He had shooting pains in his legs and in his back. He was trying like crazy to come back and he's worked incredibly hard and unfortunately that process just wasn't working for him," said Arnold.

Arnold would not say exactly if Yelich can return for Spring Training but thinks the timing of the surgery will help him not miss any regular season games.

"We're optimistic about him being ready for opening day," said Arnold.

Yelich was in the middle of an All-Star season, his first since 2019.

"Devastating. This is a player who in my opinion would have won the MVP in 2019 again if he played that last month. Injury cut it short. He's got a chance to win a batting title and injury cut it short," said Pat Murphy, Brewers manager. "I hurt for him. I hurt for him. And I hurt for our club because he's a huge part of the club."

The role Yelich can fill now is the veteran leader and help a young team continue to make a playoff push off the field.

"He obviously wishes he could be out there. It kills him, we all know that," said Sal Frelick, Brewers outfielder. "Having him on the bench is just as important even if he's not playing. We're gonna go out and play our game to the best way we can but I know we're still gonna have Yeli with us."

"You feel for him because we could start to see it turning around for him after a couple of years where he just wasn't himself. This year he was back to that Yeli that spoiled us the first two years when we got here. He was having a fantastic season, and it was just a tough blow," said Brandon Woodruff, Brewers pitcher.

It will be a few weeks before Yelich can return to the team, but they expect him to be there as the team tries to make a deep run.