Brewers right hand Quinn Priester will undergo thoracic decompression surgery on Monday, Priester himself tells MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (video link). Priester, who spent the entire season on the injured list, will miss the rest of the season as a result.
Priester has been dealing with thoracic outlet symptoms since spring training. As righty himself explains, diagnosing thoracic outlet syndrome is often a “process of exclusion,” meaning that the best way to make a definitive diagnosis is to rule out other possible causes. They did that and tried other treatments in hopes that Priester could avoid going under the knife, but while Priester has reached a point where he is pain-free at times, he is unable to repeat his exercises due to the neurological issues that plague him. Priester played in eight rehab league games but walked 25% of his opponents and struck out another 4.1% of them.
Some fans may wonder why Priester didn’t undergo surgery in spring training, when his symptoms first appeared. That is due to the non-calculative nature of the diagnostic process but may also be due to the expected recovery time. Priester said he will be out of action for three months following the surgery and will need eight to 10 months before he is ready for a game.
That eight-month timeline would have ended his entire season, even if he had surgery in late March. Now he hopes to be ready when the pitchers and catchers report next spring, though that will depend on his recovery. It’s clearly possible that his rehabilitation could continue in spring training or early in the season.
Priester is already on IL for 60 days. He will spend the rest of the season there, accumulating major league service time and paying off during the draft. He will complete a season with 2.134 years of major league service, which could put him in a position to qualify for the Super Two. That would make him eligible for compensation for the first time this coming winter and each of the next three seasons. If he falls short of a Super Two nomination, he will not be eligible for the arb until the 2027-28 season.
Even if Priester misses the season and is likely eligible, there’s no way he’ll be a non-tender. The former first-round pick and top prospect came to Milwaukee in what could be a crossover with the Red Sox. A minor league pitcher Yopher Rodriguezminor league is fine John Holobetz and the Brewers’ Competitive Balance draft pick in 2025 returned to Boston in that exchange. The Sox chose well Marcus Phillips with that election. Boston’s comeback is still strong. Phillips and Holobetz entered the season ranked ninth and 14th among Red Sox hitters, respectively, according to Baseball America.
Priester, however, has emerged as an elite player, who started against Milwaukee last year and is still under control four years into the current season. The 6’3″, 225-pound righty threw 157 1/3 innings for manager Pat Murphy and logged a sharp 3.32 ERA. Priester’s 20.2% strikeout rate was a little shy of average, but he countered that with good command (7.7% walk rate) and one of the highest groundball rates in the game (56.1%). Priester took some time to find his stride, but after a shakier start in the rotation, he closed the season with a 2.95 ERA and even better average numbers in his final 17 appearances.
With Priester out for the season, the Brewers will lean heavily on the Cy Young candidate Jacob Misiorowski and on the left Kyle Harrisonhis exit in 2026 foreshadows Priester’s. (Like Priester, Harrison is the first baseman and best player traded from his original organization to the Red Sox — only to be dealt a second time in Milwaukee.) The rest of the rotation has been very fluid, in part because of injuries. Robert Gasser, Brandon Sproat again Shane Drohan they have rotations right now, but Brandon Woodruff, Logan Henderson again Coleman Crow all have started games for Murphy and are currently on the injured list. Chad Patrick has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen, giving the Brewers another solid backfield option.
