Devin Williams Expected to Miss Around 3 Months Due to Stress Fractures in Back

That sound you hear isn’t the world’s largest toilet flushing, it’s the Brewers’ season swirling down the pipes like the saddest trip ever down Bernie’s Slide. Craig Counsell is on the North Side of Chicago, Corbin Burnes is in Baltimore, and Brandon Woodruff will miss most of the season following surgery to repair a capsular tear in his right shoulder. And now, like a reluctant floater, yet another star player will be out of action for several weeks.

As first reported by Jeff Passan, closer Devin Williams is expected to miss around three months due to a pair of stress fractures in his back. After pitching through soreness last September, Williams received the diagnosis when discomfort returned during spring training. Kinda funny that a dude who broke his back a couple weeks before the trade deadline last year is now breaking the news of another dude breaking his back.

Milwaukee Brewers star closer Devin Williams has two stress fractures in his back and is expected to miss around three months, sources tell ESPN. Williams pitched through back soreness in September, but it returned earlier this spring. He’ll rehab and should return by midseason.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 14, 2024

Even if Williams’ effectiveness was going to be blunted by the fact that the Brewers won’t have as many leads to protect, this is a big hit to their season. They at least had a puncher’s chance in tight games late, but that’s now disappeared for the most part. Assuming he’s out as long as expected, the Cubs will play the Brewers seven times without Williams and really need to take advantage of those matchups.

Probably not the situation Pat Murphy was hoping to step into when he stayed in Milwaukee to succeed Counsell.