Milwaukee Brewers “unconcerned” with Keston Hiura’s arm soreness; Luis Urias remains in COVID-19 protocol

Keston Hiura was widely considered to be the top college hitter available in the 2017 MLB Draft, but part of the reason that he fell to the Milwaukee Brewers at #9 overall were concerns about his throwing elbow and the possibility of Tommy John surgery. Hiura rehabbed the injury after getting selected and has thus far been able to avoid going under the knife, but needless to say it raised some alarm when he was scratched from yesterday’s scrimmage with “arm soreness.” According to the Brewers, however, the issue is not something that they are especially worried about:

Hiura will reportedly take a few days off from throwing, and he was not in the lineup in tonight’s scrimmage at Miller Park. The 23 year old second baseman hit .303/.368/.570 with 19 home runs in 84 games as a rookie last season and is expected to be an anchor in the middle of the batting order this year and for many more moving forward.

Elsewhere in well-regarded young players, Luis Urias remains in the COVID-19 protocol despite being asymptomatic. Urias has not been able to produce the required two negative tests at least 24 hours apart. Per President of Baseball Ops David Stearns, “[t]his is something that we’re going to be dealing with the entire year. Every club is. You just don’t know how long it takes to [shake] the virus. Sometimes it’s gone pretty quickly, and sometimes it can take weeks or even months. I know Luis is enormously frustrated, especially since he feels completely healthy.” With only a week until the regular season begins, it is unclear if Urias will be available or ready for Opening Day.

Finally, Brett Anderson left yesterday’s scrimmage with a blister issue on his throwing hand. He will refrain from throwing for the next several days. Anderson had previously been on a track to throw the second game of the regular season, but now the Brewers don’t expect to have any updates on his status until Monday.