Brewers shift Priester's rehab to Arizona after struggles in Triple-A

HOUSTON -- After he showed little progress at Triple-A Nashville, the Brewers have shifted Quinn Priester’s rehab assignment to the team’s complex in Arizona as the right-hander continues a comeback attempt from thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS).

Doctors continue to believe, for now, that Priester does not require surgery to relieve the symptoms of TOS, a condition in which the nerves running down his neck and into his arm and torso are compressed. A surgery would require removal of his first rib, and would end Priester’s season.

But what they were doing -- pitching through it, in hope he regains the proper feel for the baseball through repetition -- wasn’t working. Instead of the five innings or 80-85 pitches he was scheduled for with Nashville on Wednesday, Priester lasted for two outs and 38 pitches (18 strikes).

“We just felt like he’s not getting anywhere in Triple-A right now,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s spinning his wheels a little bit, trying to find himself.

“We were wishful thinking when we thought he could go to Triple-A and just get it back.”

In six rehab starts so far -- one with High-A Wisconsin and five with Nashville -- he has been charged with 24 runs on 19 hits and 17 walks in 10 innings. In two of those outings, he couldn’t make it out of the first inning.

So, the Brewers will try something new in Arizona, where Priester will face young hitters set to play in the Arizona Complex League. By pitching him in intrasquad games, Milwaukee can have total control over his workload without burning out an affiliate’s pitching staff, pulling him from an inning that goes sideways and then sending him back to the mound for the next one.

“He agreed to it,” Murphy said. “He said, ‘Yeah, that’s better.’ We’ll just make sure that he’s progressing the way we want.”

Priester will remain on a set schedule of game-type action in an effort to build up his pitch count, and will continue down that path, without surgery -- “until he can’t,” Murphy said. That could take another month, according to Murphy.

“When you’re dealing with nerves, that takes a while,” Murphy said. “It’s killing him. He’s such a competitive kid. But he’s also very, very bright, and he understands this is part of that injury.”