Milwaukee Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said that Christian Yelich’s recent back surgery should help him be ready for the start of the 2025 season.
“By doing this sooner, it does allow him to hopefully be ready for opening day next year,” Arnold said before the Brewers played the Cleveland Guardians.
When asked if Yelich could be back for the start of spring training, Arnold said, “That’s my understanding, but you never know with a back and how that’s going to respond with the surgery he had. We’re optimistic about him being ready for opening day.”
Yelich, who is 32 years old, was leading the NL in batting average (.315) and on-base percentage (.406) when he went on the injured list in late July.
He hasn’t played since being taken out of a game at the Chicago Cubs on July 23. Yelich has been struggling with back problems for several years.
Arnold described Yelich’s surgery as “a diskectomy of some kind,” which means removing the damaged part of a disk in the spine.
Yelich said in a video posted on social media that surgery “was just the best option that we really had left.” The procedure was performed by Dr. Brandon Rebholz in Milwaukee.
“There’s really no other way to put it other than it sucks,” Yelich said. “It’s terrible. But it’s part of sports. These things happen. You get hurt, you get fixed, and you get back out there. Try to stay as positive as possible about it.”
The Brewers are hopeful that the surgery will provide long-term benefits.
“He needed to do this,” manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s got a lot left in his career, and I think this will really help him. It’s been clear he’s had a back issue for a long time.
With the kind of swing he has, and the torque involved, the biomechanics experts would tell you that with his flexibility and ability to rotate, it’s impressive it lasted 12 years.”
Yelich was having his best season since his early years with Milwaukee, when he won the NL MVP in 2018 and was second in the MVP voting in 2019. He made the All-Star team this year and had 11 home runs, 42 RBIs, and 21 steals in 73 games.
“I can tell you he was in a lot of pain,” Arnold said. “He had shooting pains through his leg and back and tried very hard to come back. He’s worked incredibly hard, but the process just wasn’t working, so he chose to have the surgery.”
Yelich has a career .287 batting average with 204 home runs in 12 seasons with Miami and Milwaukee.
Murphy mentioned that Yelich can still help the Brewers this season with his presence in the locker room. Murphy has praised Yelich for his leadership as the Brewers dealt with many injuries and built the largest division lead in Major League Baseball.
The Brewers were leading Cincinnati and St. Louis by nine games in the NL Central as of Friday.
“He’s connected to many players because they respect his work ethic and how he handles himself,” Murphy said. “He doesn’t force anything. It’s very genuine. He truly cares about young players and playing the game the right way.”
