Milwaukee Brewers reinstate Keston Hiura from Injured List

One day after learning the devastating news that Christian Yelich would miss the rest of the season, the Milwaukee Brewers were able to make a more positive announcement on the injury front. Earlier this afternoon, second baseman Keston Hiura was activated from the 10-day Injured List. He went on the shelf on August 31st after an on-field collision that caused him to suffer a strained left hamstring.

Hiura won’t immediately be placed back in the lineup and is unlikely to play the field until the the next home stand, which starts Monday against San Diego. He is likely to be eased back into action with some at-bats off the bench this weekend in St. Louis. The rookie second baseman has looked like a star at the place since debuting in the big leagues earlier this season, batting .301/.369/.571 with 16 home runs and nine steals through 70 games for a 138 wRC+. With Yelich unavailable, Hiura is now statistically the best hitter on the team.

Milwaukee will get another offensive reinforcement tonight with the return of Mike Moustakas to the starting lineup. Moose, who turns 31 today, has been limited since for the last two weeks after taking a batted ball off of his wrist, causing extreme pain and discomfort when he attempted to grip the bat. He has accrued only seven plate appearances since August 26th and the team has been using Cory Spangenberg and Travis Shaw at the hot corner in his absence. Needless to say, a fully healthy Moustakas — and his accompanying .260/.332/.522 slash line and 31 home runs — would be a big boost to the offense.

Finally, Craig Counsell suggested in a radio spot yesterday that Brandon Woodruff continues to get closer to returning and is primed to play a significant role down the stretch for the team. Woodruff was scheduled to throw a simulated game today and could be ready to rejoin the active roster soon. An All-Star for the first time this season, Woody established himself as the leader of the starting rotation by posting a 3.75 ERA and 69 FIP- in 20 starts and 117.2 innings before going down with an oblique strain in the final week of July.

Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs