The Milwaukee Brewers won the NL Central in 2024 for the third time in the last four years. However, the team lost star left fielder Christian Yelich to a season-ending back injury in July. Ultimately, the Brewers fell to the New York Mets in the Wild Card round, dropping their sixth straight postseason series.
Yelich would miss 89 regular season games in 2024. The 13th-year veteran entered spring training hoping to be ready for the Brewers’ season opener in 2025. So far, the 33-year-old former league MVP is on schedule.
“I feel good. Just being out there’s a win. It’s a long road back from that kind of stuff. Dealing with the rehab process, I was just trying to get back out there. So I was happy with that. Just nice to be back in the game. It’s been a long time and kinda just build off it… See how I feel tomorrow and go from there,” Yelich said via Brewers reporter Todd Rosiak on X.
Christian Yelich’s return to the Brewers is off to a good start
While Yelich initially hoped to avoid surgery following his injury, he ultimately needed to undergo a procedure on his back. Now he’s working his way into form, taking the field for the first time in over seven months.
“It was basically how I expected it to be and my body felt good. That was pretty much the biggest concern of the day… Physically I feel good and I think that’s the most important thing,” Yelich said.
“The procedure went good and the rehab process was relatively smooth… and all the baseball progressions have been pretty good, there haven’t been any setbacks or anything. This was kinda the date that was targeted for a while and there were no hiccups getting to today so it was good,” he added.
Yelich came to Brewers’ camp with the expectation of being ready for Opening Day. So far, after testing out his surgically repaired back, he feels confident that he can hit the ground running.
While the Brewers should have Yelich back anchoring the lineup, switch-hitting center fielder Blake Perkins will miss some time with an injury. Milwaukee’s third-year outfielder suffered a shin fracture that will keep him sidelined for at least the first month of the 2025 season.
As for Yelich, he’s continuing to grind it out in spring training but he’s grateful to be back on the field. “Now it’s just repping it out really. It’s been a long time since I played. And it was just cool to be out there honestly because it’s a long road from the last time that I did it. So honestly that was a victory in itself for me today,” he noted.
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