Milwaukee Brewers' Sal Frelick Dealing With Hip Injury, Set to Undergo MRI

Sal Frelick has set himself apart as one of the top defensive outfielders in the National League this season, but the young Milwaukee Brewers star is banged up heading into the playoffs.

Sep 14, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick (10) makes the catch for an out against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning at Chase Field. / Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The Milwaukee Brewers may be down one of their most important players heading into the playoffs.

In the top of the third inning against the New York Mets on Friday night, right fielder Sal Frelick did his best to track down a foul ball. The 24-year-old tried to make a leaping grab, but he crashed into a fenced-off inlet in the wall and immediately went down with a hip injury.

Frelick was helped off the field and replaced by Garrett Mitchell. Milwaukee was up 5-0 at the time of Frelick's injury, and they went on to win 8-4.

"We don't know how significant the injury is, but he has an MRI tomorrow," manager Pat Murphy said in his postgame press conference on Friday. "He's not moving, obviously. I can't even speculate what it is – he did have X-rays here, they were kinda inconclusive, but he'll have an MRI tomorrow and 10 o'clock, so we should know more then."

The Brewers had already clinched a playoff spot back on Sept. 18, winning their fourth NL Central title in seven years. They were also locked into the No. 3 seed in the National League entering Friday, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies securing the two byes on Wednesday.

So even though Milwaukee improved to 92-68 on the season, the so-called meaningless win my have come at a cost.

"I feel horrible for him, for the young man, first and foremost," Murphy said. "And it hurts our team because he's a Gold Glove outfielder and just a winning player. ... He's a big part of this thing, and it'll be a huge blow if he can't play, which you'd have to lean towards right now."

Frelick may only be batting .259 with two home runs, 32 RBI and a .655 OPS in 2024, but he has 18 stolen bases and a 2.1 WAR across 145 games. He also leads all NL outfielders with 15 defensive runs saved, asserting himself as an elite glove in just his second big league season.

The Brewers already lost former MVP Christian Yelich to back surgery this summer, so losing Frelick would further thin out what was supposed to be an elite group of outfielders. NL Rookie of the Year contender Jackson Chourio remains active, as does Mitchell, but the former is 20 years old and the latter is notably injury prone.

With so many question marks in the outfield, Milwaukee might just have to cross its fingers and hope for the best with the NL Wild Card Series set to begin in three days' time.

The Brewers will face the Mets again at 7:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, followed by a 3:10 p.m. ET regular season finale on Sunday.

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