Brewers place Ryan Braun on DL, recall Caleb Gindl

Ryan Braun hasn't appeared in a game since leaving in the third inning against the Phillies on Sunday, and when he still wasn't in the lineup tonight the writing was on the wall.

Braun was placed on the DL following tonight's game with what's being called a "right thumb contusion." Even if you didn't know anything was wrong with Braun, you might have noticed that his power has clearly dropped a bit recently: He has just one home run in his last 27 games, a span of 112 plate appearances. He still hit .287/.348/.406 over that time, though.

Braun's DL assignment was backdated to Monday, so he'll be eligible to return to action for the first game of the Cubs series on June 25. Given two more off days in the next two weeks, Braun will only miss eight more games if he spends the minimum amount of time in the shelf.

In the meantime, the Brewers are planning on recalling outfielder Caleb Gindl from Nashville to fill his roster spot. Gindl is hitting .274/.341/.456 in 64 games for the Sounds this season, but .306/.356/.488 in 41 games since May 1. He's a left handed hitter and he's not very tall (listed at 5'7"), but he's hit at every level of the minors in his career. He'll likely make his major league debut this weekend.

Gindl has played 174 minor league games in center field (including 35 this season), but is probably the fourth best defensive outfielder of the four on the Brewers' active roster. He'll likely play almost exclusively in a corner in the majors.