Milwaukee Brewers place Ray Black on Injured List with rotator cuff injury

The Milwaukee Brewers have a handful of out-of-options players that they will have to make a decision on regarding an Opening Day roster spot, however one man who will have to wait to learn his ultimate fate with the organization is reliever Ray Black. It was announced earlier today that the 30 year right-hander has been placed on the Injured List with a strained right rotator cuff.

The hard-throwing reliever was acquired from San Francisco at the trade deadline last season along with Drew Pomeranz for prospect Mauricio Dubon. He wound up appearing in 15 games for the Brewers down the stretch, logging a 5.14 ERA across an even 14.0 innings. Black, who debuted with San Francisco in 2018, owns a 5.72 ERA across 39.1 big league innings during his parts of two seasons.

Black had been in the mix for a bullpen spot and seemed like a strong candidate to make the expanded 30-man Opening Day roster, but he was removed from an intrasquad contest recently after throwing a 90 MPH fastball, well below his typical upper-90s zone. Black has suffered myriad injuries throughout his baseball life, including Tommy John surgery, a labrum repair, and another elbow injury in 2017. Said pitching coach Chris Hook, “I think it’s a setback for Ray, for sure. It’s a setback for our club because depth is going to be extremely important through all of this.”

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference