Milwaukee Brewers All-Star outfielder shared with reporters that his daily life became quite challenging before he chose to have season-ending back surgery.
“After I decided to have the surgery, everyday life became pretty tough,” Yelich explained to reporters on Tuesday, according to Steve Megargee of the Associated Press. “I was very uncomfortable and in a lot of pain.”
Yelich missed time from April 12 to May 8 due to a lower back strain. Upon his return, he performed well, batting .315 with an .909 OPS, 11 home runs, 42 RBI, and 44 runs scored in 73 games.
Unfortunately, his season ended prematurely on July 23 when he had to leave a 1-0 victory against the Chicago Cubs due to back tightness.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the surgery, Yelich provided more details about his condition.
“I don’t want to go into too much detail, but essentially, we needed to remove some problematic issues,” Yelich said. “I tried to see if I could delay the surgery until the end of the season and continue playing, but it was unlikely, and I knew surgery was probably inevitable.
“I hoped it could wait until the offseason, but it didn’t respond as needed for that to be possible.”
Despite his season being cut short, Yelich played a crucial role in the Brewers’ strong first half of the season. The Brewers, who were 75-55 and had a 10-game lead in the NL Central as of Wednesday, certainly miss their three-time All-Star and 2018 National League MVP. Yelich mentioned that he feels “great right now” and expects a good recovery, hoping to be healthy enough to return in 2025 to help the Brewers, who are currently dominating the NL Central.
Leave a Reply