Freddy Peralta left his start on Sunday with “tightness” in the back of his shoulder, but an MRI revealed a far more serious injury. Peralta is dealing with a significant lat strain. He’s already on the IL, and in reality he could be out for months. While the Brewers do expect him back this season, it won’t be anytime soon.
“We’re confident there’s going to be no aftereffects to this thing, but it’s going to take a while to heal and build it back up,” Craig Counsell said.
I don’t totally agree with Counsell’s statement – lat strains are tricky injuries, and healing isn’t always so straightforward. Recovery starts with a lot of rest. Peralta may not pickup a baseball for at least a month. Once the muscle heals a throwing program can begin, but this is a slow process. Even then the pitcher isn’t in the clear. This is an easy injury to aggravate as the pitching motion puts a strain on the core muscles like the lat.
Our algorithm has this as a grade 2-3 lat strain (which indicates partial tearing to the muscle). He won’t need surgery, but his Optimal Recovery Time is a minimum of six weeks. Then he would need additional time to build up arm strength.
Peralta has a history of shoulder tightness, but none as serious as this. He missed time in 2019 and 2021 with the injury, although it’s unclear if his current problem is to the same location.
The 2021 All Star has a 4.42 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 38.2 innings pitched this season. He opened the season as the Brewers #3 starter.
