Brewers' Quinn Priester To Have Season-Ending Surgery

[Steve Drumwright]

 

The expected bad news is now official: Quinn Priester's season is over.

The Milwaukee Brewers' right-handed starter will have surgery to repair his thoracic outlet syndrome. Priester told reporters Thursday that he will have surgery Monday. Priester is expected to miss eight to 10 months, meaning the early portion of that timeline would have him completely healthy in spring training.

Priester was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome in spring training and had tried a number of things in an attempt to return to the mound. Priester pitched in eight minor-league games on rehab assignments, including the last two in the Arizona Complex League.

"I'm excited because this is a plan forward," Priester said.

Priester was a revelation after being acquired by the Brewers in April 2025. Picked up in a trade with the Boston Red Sox when the Brewers were desperate for starting pitching, Priester, who had been at Triple-A with Boston, jumped right into the major-league rotation and went 13-3 with a 4.01 FIP (3.32 ERA), walking 7.7% of batters and striking out 20.2%

 

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[patrickgpe]

I'm glad he is. Lets get him healthy and he can replace Woodruff next season when he is gone. 

The sad part is that the brewers waited so long to make this decision he will miss some of 2027 which was unnecessary. 

[KCBrewerfan34]

Do pitchers comeback from this surgery with good results? 

[long ball]

A real bummer, but I, like many other fans, had already written him off as a contributor to the 2026 season. 
 

let’s hope for a successful surgery, recovery, and return to his 2025 form. 
 

it does make you wonder how much the Brewers were counting on Priester coming into the season. They made a late off season trade to bring in Harrison and Drohan. If we wouldn’t have done that we’d be in a world of hurt given the injuries to Woody, Crow, and Henderson along with the shaky results from Gasser and Sproat. 

[ChapelHeel66]

I feel bad for Quinn.  He finally found a permanent home and now has to go through this.

 

 Does anyone know what kind of TOS it is?  I think Wheeler’s was venous and he took about 8 months (and looks awfully good out there)…and he’s at a much later stage of his career.  Those who recover well tend to be good as new.  Those who do not recover well simply don’t pitch anymore.  He seems optimistic and I’m looking forward to seeing him on the mound in 2027.

[liveforoctober]

24 minutes ago, KCBrewerfan34 said:

Do pitchers comeback from this surgery with good results? 

Strasburg will be the face of "fear" for TOS forever I think.

Admittedly, I am not very knowledgeable on this at all - this article from MLB I just dug up helped a bit:

What is thoracic outlet syndrome? Here’s everything you need to know

[BruisedCrew]

30 minutes ago, KCBrewerfan34 said:

Do pitchers comeback from this surgery with good results? 

Wheeler seems to be doing pretty well. 

[liveforoctober]

7 minutes ago, ChapelHeel66 said:

I feel bad for Quinn.  He finally found a permanent home and now has to go through this.

 

 Does anyone know what kind of TOS it is?  I think Wheeler’s was venous and he took about 8 months (and looks awfully good out there)…and he’s at a much later stage of his career.  Those who recover well tend to be good as new.  Those who do not recover well simply don’t pitch anymore.  He seems optimistic and I’m looking forward to seeing him on the mound in 2027.

Neurogenic. Here is a long clip McCalvy just posted on Priester talking about it. This is worth the watch I think listening to Quinn.

https://x.com/AdamMcCalvy/status/2067626770816233769?s=20

[Jopal78]

21 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

Wheeler seems to be doing pretty well. 

Historically it seems Wheeler is the exception and  not the rule.
 

We probably won’t see Priester until April of 2028 though. Tough break for the guy, after looking like a front of the rotation  horse, his career is suddenly at a crossroads 

[liveforoctober]

10 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Historically it seems Wheeler is the exception and  not the rule.
 

We probably won’t see Priester until April of 2028 though. Tough break for the guy, after looking like a front of the rotation  horse, his career is suddenly at a crossroads 

22 month recovery? Quinn said he can begin playing catch after 12 weeks. Is there precedent of this being an 18 month+ recovery if the surgery goes well?

[Underachiever]

2 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

The sad part is that the brewers waited so long to make this decision he will miss some of 2027 which was unnecessary. 

I think the player gets to decide if he gets surgery or not. Brewers can't force anyone to get cut on.

[folly412]

Quote

 

Priester hopes to be 100% by the time spring training begins in 2027. Part of the procedure involves the removal of a rib, so as he recovers, one thing he will have to decide is what to do with it.

"Yeah, so they give it to you," Priester said. "I get to keep it, so figuring out what to do with it. I've had some ideas, but my mom is, is like, they all sound really creepy. So I'll think on it, keep it in a jar somewhere."

 

That sounds quite terrible.  He "hopes to be 100%" for spring training, but how likely is that?

s

[Jopal78]

3 hours ago, liveforoctober said:

22 month recovery? Quinn said he can begin playing catch after 12 weeks. Is there precedent of this being an 18 month+ recovery if the surgery goes well?

12 weeks is the end of the baseball season for 2026. I’m sure he’ll work out generally but amping up without major league facilities isn’t likely to happen (certainly not if there’s a lock out). So he’ll be starting from square 1 in essence in April 2027.

[wiguy94]

13 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

12 weeks is the end of the baseball season for 2026. I’m sure he’ll work out generally but amping up without major league facilities isn’t likely to happen (certainly not if there’s a lock out). So he’ll be starting from square 1 in essence in April 2027.

I love the idea that Priester won't be able to rehab his injury if there's a lockout. Of course it would have to be away from the team but he will be doing the exact same things regardless of there being or not being a lockout.