Priester status murky

[edfunderburk]

Murphy was interviewed during the 4th inning of the Brewers & Cubs game today. His comments regarding Priester didn’t sound encouraging. Apparently, he has some lingering issues dating back to end of 2025 season. Murph referenced Quinn having discomfort that started at his wrist & went up his arm. Am I overly concerned or should we all be concerned?

[TURBO]

40 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

Murphy was interviewed during the 4th inning of the Brewers & Cubs game today. His comments regarding Priester didn’t sound encouraging. Apparently, he has some lingering issues dating back to end of 2025 season. Murph referenced Quinn having discomfort that started at his wrist & went up his arm. Am I overly concerned or should we all be concerned?

Definitely not the news we want to hear, and exactly the reason why having a lot of starting pitching depth is important...

[edfunderburk]

 

[TURBO]

Geez.

Well, the odds of getting everyone through spring training healthy are probably pretty low.  Hopefully they don't start dropping like flies now that the seal is broken.

[da swedish german]

which will happen first?

teams refusing to pay pitchers insane money to throw once in a while or when they feel like pitching?  or

baseball culture and coaching moving away from 100 percent effort on every pitch?

appearances missed by pitchers has doubled since 2005. a stain on the game

 

[brewmann04]

This is why you never have enough pitching 

[MadScientist]

15 hours ago, da swedish german said:

which will happen first?

teams refusing to pay pitchers insane money to throw once in a while or when they feel like pitching?  or

baseball culture and coaching moving away from 100 percent effort on every pitch?

appearances missed by pitchers has doubled since 2005. a stain on the game

 

As long as the Dodgers are allowed to keep spending whatever they want to, the first won't happen.  And unless something happens where pitchers can win without 100% effort, the second is unlikely.  You'd need Maddux level control or a great knuckle ball to succeed without using near maximum effort.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

37 minutes ago, MadScientist said:

As long as the Dodgers are allowed to keep spending whatever they want to, the first won't happen.  And unless something happens where pitchers can win without 100% effort, the second is unlikely.  You'd need Maddux level control or a great knuckle ball to succeed without using near maximum effort.

The obvious solution, though, is to stop self-selecting so much for velocity. Breaking stuff is obviously stressful on the arm too, but being able to really command 90-92 (or, given modern training, 93-94) with a good change can still work in MLB, especially in an era of shorter starts. In a lot of ways, Freddy used this model earlier in his career, and he's been quite durable.

Priester took a jump in velo last year, which probably factors into both his success and this news.

Better training and conditioning can increase velo without increasing injury risk, but only by so much. The limits of evolutionary biology are real. I think there may need to be a market correction toward command rather that "stuff" if we're going to decrease IL stints for pitchers. If a pitch jumps out for its spin, velo, and trajectory, it's a good bet, in most cases, the effort of throwing it consistently for years is going to create long-term problems.

[jay87shot]

The fact that it hasn't been sorted out from December is concerning. The fact that there has been no diagnosis is encouraging (i would guess there has been some testing/scans/etc done). I don't mind him missing a little to get right with the depth currently but hopefully a surgery isn't needed in the future.

[edfunderburk]

 

[Jopal78]

If there was no tissue damage visible in an MRI, it’s probably a nerve issue 

[edfunderburk]

https://www.mlb.com/news/quinn-priester-wrist-discomfort-in-brewers-camp?p=1&partnerId=it-20260306-17165219-mlb-1-A&utm_id=it-20260306-17165219-mlb-1-A&lctg=138230048

[markedman5]

 

[markedman5]

 

[long ball]

I don’t love the sound of that!

[Dragonbait]

Is that anything like Brauns nerve thingy?

[Team Canada]

More relevant info in McCalvy's article: https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/quinn-priester-to-start-season-on-injured-list-with-wrist-injury

If it resolves without surgery, fantastic, but worst case is he's not much help this year at all.

[Jopal78]

7 hours ago, Team Canada said:

More relevant info in McCalvy's article: https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/quinn-priester-to-start-season-on-injured-list-with-wrist-injury

If it resolves without surgery, fantastic, but worst case is he's not much help this year at all.

Reading between the lines, sounds like corrective surgery is typically needed. Priester has nothing to lose by trying to rest and rehab it first because TOR surgery means his 2026 season is already over and his career trajectory changes completely.

[homer]

Love drafting guys in fantasy and then the words "Thoracic Outlet Syndrome" are attached to them the next day.

[Playing Catch]

Aside from a season-ending injury to Chourio, this represents my most feared injury to the club. I felt like Priester was the surest bet to replace Peralta's regular season consistency. Nearly every team looks a lot different in September than April, so I was never "counting" on anyone to be available to dominate in a playoff series. There are just too many variables in a season to worry about if your starter can pitch into the 5th inning of a Wild Card series game. The Playoffs are always an all-hands-on-deck situation.

I hope, of course, that rehab goes well enough that Priester can deliver the goods this season, but I think the likeliest scenario is that rest/rehab only works for a handful of starts before he decides to have surgery in time to be healthy and pitching by trade deadline 2027.

The salve is knowing that even after being down Peralta/Priester, they have Sproat, Harrison, and Drohan now. A downgrade in experience and professional polish, certainly. But perhaps they are an upgrade in pure stuff.

But this is the kind of injury that could really derail the season. I wouldn't think this at all if the Brewers played in the AL Central, but I don't like how much more competitive the Cubs, Reds, and Pirates look to be this season, and I think it will be a dogfight just to make the playoffs.

[Brewcrew82]

3 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Reading between the lines, sounds like corrective surgery is typically needed. Priester has nothing to lose by trying to rest and rehab it first because TOR surgery means his 2026 season is already over and his career trajectory changes completely.

There's different types of TOS. Priester was just interviewed and said he has the version which guys have been able to make it back from pretty regularly and in a relatively short turnaround time. 

https://x.com/AdamMcCalvy/status/2032475095017656378?s=20

[mudbutt]

Yeah he has neurogenic TOS. Seems pretty common it doesn't require surgery, and worst case if he does it sounds like pitchers return to back the same ability level pre surgery so he would be good to go next year.

[Sixtolezcano]

On 3/13/2026 at 12:31 PM, mudbutt said:

Yeah he has neurogenic TOS. Seems pretty common it doesn't require surgery, and worst case if he does it sounds like pitchers return to back the same ability level pre surgery so he would be good to go next year.

Too bad that we needed him this season.

[Jopal78]

On 3/13/2026 at 12:31 PM, mudbutt said:

Yeah he has neurogenic TOS. Seems pretty common it doesn't require surgery, and worst case if he does it sounds like pitchers return to back the same ability level pre surgery so he would be good to go next year.

TOS is increasingly common, resolution of the condition without surgery remains quite uncommon. In Priester’s case a nerve is being compressed by his pitching motion.
 

Perhaps the nerve is simply irritated and rest to let the nerve calm down and some therapy to strengthen the area can resolve the issue. However it doesn’t sound to good if the motion of his arm itself when throwing the ball compresses the nerve. That sounds like a surgeon will have to do something to ensure his throwing motion doesn’t compress the nerve. If you watch the entire clip above, Priester says he’s being an optimist focus in on the best case scenario on being back late April/early May. Let’s hope so. 

[mudbutt]

Surgery is not common for nTOS, although maybe it is different for a professional athlete. Like 60-70% of cases don’t need surgery. Venous like Wheeler has and arterial TOS basically require surgery though.