Brewers place Lorenzo Cain on Injured List, recall Tyrone Taylor; remove Devin Williams from high-leverage role, for now

Lorenzo Cain left Tuesday’s contest against the Cubs, sustaining “quadriceps discomfort” after legging out a first inning groundout.

Manager Craig Counsell said that it would have been “risky” to leave Cain in the game and said the Brewers would reassess the situation today, Wednesday. After making the necessary determinations, the move was made to place Cain on the 10-day Injured List with a left quad strain, and Tyrone Taylor was recalled from the Alternate Training Site to fill the vacancy on the roster.

The team began the season with plenty of outfield depth, and they’ve needed it. Christian Yelich has been sidelined since Sunday with back discomfort and will sit again today. With Cain and Yelich injured, the starting outfield of Jackie Bradley Jr., Avisaíl García, and Billy McKinney is more than serviceable. McKinney, in fact, gets his first start of the season today against the Cubs in left. Taylor adds another player who is a true defensive center fielder on the bench, and one who has shown well during his stints in the big leagues; he is a career .271/.340/.521 hitter with a pair of home runs and six doubles across 53 MLB plate appearances over the last two seasons. Taylor also hit .293/.318/.488 in 41 at-bats this spring. A former #1 prospect within the organization, perhaps the 27 year old Taylor will finally get the opportunity for some extended playing time at the game’s highest level.

Devin Williams to appear in lower-leverage innings

Some Brewer fans were surprised to see 2020 Reliever/Rookie of the Year Devin Williams pitch on Monday night against the Cubs when the Brewers had a 5-run lead.

The 2020 Brewers played an untouchable Devin Williams in higher leverage situations, but after a shoulder injury that ended his 2020 and limited his Spring Training to four Cactus League appearances, the Brewers are taking a new approach.

They’ll pitch Williams on a semi-regular schedule so he can continue to strengthen the injured shoulder and put in some innings at lower leverage situations. According to manager Craig Counsell,

“The best way to get [Williams] stronger is to get him pitching,” Counsell said. “He said he felt great last night from a shoulder perspective — it felt great, like, as good as he’s felt. That’s a good sign. But we’ve got to get him out there. I think that’s going to be the goal for a little while, just get them out there on kind of a regular schedule.”

Williams’ appearance on Monday night was only his third of the regular season, and he certainly was not his lights-out self yet. Williams, who just made batters look silly in 2020, didn’t record a strikeout and walked two batters. Notably, he was still effective, framing a scoreless inning, allowing no hits, and prompting Willson Contreras to hit into a first-pitch double play.