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The Brewers got one of their first bits of bad news in 2020 before pitchers and catchers even reported to camp, when new acquisition Luis Urias broke his hamate bone in his wrist while playing winter ball.
It’s an injury that brought plenty of concern — wrist injuries can wreak havoc for hitters — and immediately signaled a test to the depth David Stearns had tried to accumulate in the infield over the winter.
As players start to matriculate into Maryvale today, we’re learning there’s a bit of good news when it comes to Urias’ injury — his cast is off and he’s still aiming to be in the Opening Day lineup for his new team.
First medical update of Spring Training: Luis Urías' cast was removed Friday. His timetable is tight, but he said, "I want to be ready for Opening Day."
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) February 12, 2020
We were surprised that new #Brewers infielder Luis Urias, who recently had hamate bone surgery, had no brace, cast or even wrap on the wrist when we chatted with him. Said is keeping hope of "being ready by opening day" but depends on where he falls on the 6-to-8 weeks prognosis.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) February 12, 2020
From the way it’s being described by reporters, specifically Tom Haudricourt, the Opening Day goal is more of a hope at this point than a solid timeline. We’ll likely find out more on the actual timeline in the coming days and weeks as he starts to work his way back into baseball activities now that the cast is off.
In the meantime, Orlando Arcia and Eric Sogard figure to end up getting more reps at shortstop this spring.
Urias hit .223/.329/.326 in 249 plate appearances for the Padres last year. PECOTA is projecting the 22-year-old to hit .256/.341/.412 with 11 home runs in 420 plate appearances in his first season in Milwaukee.
Statistics courtesy of Baseball Prospectus