Brewers Place Jake Bauers On 10-Day Injured List

The Brewers announced that first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left shoulder impingement.  Infielder Tyler Black has been called up from Triple-A to take Bauers’ spot on the active roster.

With Rhys Hoskins sidelined until roughly mid-August due to a Grade 2 thumb strain and a bone bruise, losing Bauers further depletes Milwaukee’s first base picture.  The Brewers called up Andrew Vaughn to pair with Bauers in a righty-lefty platoon, and on paper, that platoon can be preserved with the left-handed hitting Black now in the majors to join forces with Vaughn.

It helps that Vaughn has been on fire at the plate during his brief time with the Brew Crew, and Black is a former top prospect who might yet break out in his first taste of MLB action in 2025.  Black had a modest .561 OPS over his first 57 career plate appearances in 2024, and his work this season was put on hold when he fractured his right hamate bone at the end of Spring Training.  Black didn’t make his season debut until mid-May, and he has hit only .191/.301/.303 over 103 plate appearances at Triple-A Nashville, perhaps indicating that he isn’t back to 100 percent.

Bauers has been used primarily as a platoon bat over his two seasons in Milwaukee, though he has still hit a modest .198/.306/.359 over 497 PA in a Brewers uniform.  More details on Bauers’ injury and recovery timeline should be known later today, but barring a minimal 10-day absence, he’ll be out of action beyond the July 31st trade deadline.

First base figured to be a target area for the Crew even before Bauers’ injury, even if the club’s preferred goal was probably a player that can play first base amongst other positions, rather than a pure first base-only type.  The Brewers still have plenty of time before the deadline to monitor Hoskins and Bauers’ recoveries, and to see if Vaughn can keep rolling.  Beyond just first base, the Brewers could make more of a move to obtain a left-handed hitting outfielder, with Bauers and Sal Frelick both hitting the IL in the last few days.