MILWAUKEE -- After a nearly one-month hiatus, a key piece of the Brewers’ lineup is close to making his return to the bigs.
Milwaukee on Saturday announced that outfielder Sal Frelick was sent out to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville. It’ll be the 2024 Gold Glove Award winner's first game action since July 17, when he exited early with what was eventually diagnosed as a right shoulder strain.
The length of Frelick’s assignment has yet to be determined. Though he is ready to get back on the diamond, his role early on with Nashville will be limited to hitting. Manager Pat Murphy noted that Frelick will continue working through the throwing program he began last week, focusing solely on getting back into a rhythm at the plate while he regains strength is his arm.
“He's not ready to throw in a game or play in the outfield yet,” Murphy said, “so it might take him the whole time. Offensively, he's got to get back to what we know was the guy last year or the year before, the guy that was a really tough out.”
While Frelick put up strong numbers in both 2024 and ‘25, he’s had trouble replicating that success at the plate so far this season. His .236/.301/.330 slash line through 90 games features career lows in all three categories. But after a strong June in which he slashed .348/.416/.464 and pushed his season OPS up from .578 to .664, it seemed like Frelick was finally turning a corner.
That momentum was halted in July, when shoulder pain started to creep in.
“I felt like I couldn’t throw,” Frelick said at the time. “Like a liability out there. That’s why I spoke up. I tried throwing as hard as I could to second, and it kind of just dribbled out of my hand. I felt I needed to speak up and not push through it anymore.”
Now, with a rehab assignment finally getting underway, Frelick can focus on finding that June form at the plate, all while working his way back to providing Gold Glove caliber-defense in the Brewers’ outfield.
“He's got some work to do on that front,” Murphy said. “We’re really confident he's one of the best right fielders in the game.”