ST. LOUIS – Two of the Brewers’ hitters are back.
The Brewers activated outfielder Jackson Chourio and first baseman Andrew Vaughn from the injured list on Monday afternoon for the start of a three-game series against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. In corresponding moves, the Brewers optioned outfielder Blake Perkins to Triple-A Nashville and designated outfielder Greg Jones for assignment.
It’s a pair of welcome additions. The Brewers went into Monday’s series opener ranked next-to-last in the Majors with 22 home runs (ahead of only the Giants’ 19), and Milwaukee ranked third from the bottom with a .354 slugging percentage.
Vaughn suffered a fractured hamate in the Brewers’ Opening Day win against the White Sox and had surgery on March 30. He began a rehab assignment with Nashville on April 29 and was 2-for-11 with a walk in three games with the Sounds.
Chourio landed on the IL the morning of Opening Day with a fractured bone in his left hand – an injury he originally suffered while playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. The fracture wasn’t originally detected, but when Chourio reported lingering discomfort, he underwent more detailed scans that revealed a small fracture.
Sent to Triple-A on the same day as Vaughn, Chourio was 1-for-6 in a three-game stint cut short when he fouled a ball off his left ankle on Saturday night. X-rays were negative, and he was seen at Busch Stadium early Monday afternoon doing running drills under the watch of the Brewers’ medical staff.
In another notable roster move on Monday afternoon, the Brewers returned right-hander Quinn Priester from his rehab assignment after three ineffective starts for Nashville (five innings, seven earned runs, eight walks, two hit batsmen and one wild pitch). He remains on the IL with thoracic outlet syndrome.