So much for good Opening Day vibes.
Brewers star outfielder Jackson Chourio suffered a broken left hand and landed on the 10-day injured list prior to the reigning NL Central champions’ opener against the White Sox on Thursday.
He told reporters he expects to miss approximately two-to-four weeks.
“It’s rough, for sure. You want to be out there with them,” Chourio said through translator, per MLB.com. “But equally, I’ll be in here, supporting them as I always am. It’s a long season.”
Losing Chourio is a tough blow for a Brewers team light on star power since the 22-year-old outfielder is one of the best young players in the sport.
Chourio said he suffered the injury during a World Baseball Classic exhibition game on March 4 when a pitch hit him while he played for Team Venezuela.
An initial x-ray came back negative, but Chourio said he felt discomfort during the Brewers’ exhibition games against the Reds earlier this week.
An MRI exam discovered a small hairline fracture at the base of his middle finger, per MLB.com.
He will initially come off the IL on April 4, although his projected timeline is well beyond that mark, and the team recalled Blake Perkins.
“It looks like it’s fractured very slightly, but it’s something we want to be really cautious with because of what he means to our team,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said, according to MLB.com “Obviously, (it’s) a tough blow for us, a tough blow for the kid because he’s such a good person and means a lot to our clubhouse.”
Chourio hit .270 with a .770 OPS while posting a 2.2 bWAR spanning 131 games last season, adding 21 homers and 78 RBIS.
He’s hit 21 long balls in each of his two seasons, and tallied 79 RBIs in his rookie season in 2024.
Chourio added 22 and 21 steals over the last two seasons, respectively.
He’s played a large role in the team winning the NL Central during each of his first two years, and the team has won three straight division crowns overall.
Last year’s team won an NL-best 97 games before being swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
