Brewers send Christian Yelich back to Milwaukee for MRI on back

Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich was eligible to come off the injured list on Saturday. Instead, he’s heading back to Milwaukee for an MRI.

The Milwaukee Brewers will have to wait a while longer to see Christian Yelich in their lineup again.

The former MVP and two-time All-Star has been missing since April 11 with back soreness. Just when he became eligible to return from the injured list, Milwaukee was forced to admit he’s not good to go.

“With Christian, we’ve hit a plateau,” manager Craig Counsell said, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN. “Nothing bad happened. We’re just at a plateau. We’re just trying to rule everything out and get a new piece of information.”

The solution for now? The Brewers, who are in Chicago on a road trip, are sending Yelich back to Milwaukee to get a look at his back with an MRI.

Back injuries are complicated beasts. While it’ll hurt now to continue without Yelich, in the long run, it will be better to get the full picture instead of rushing him back too early.

The Brewers will be even better when Christian Yelich returns

Despite Yelich missing half the season so far, the Brewers are first in the NL Central with a record of 12-8. They’ll hope that playing a little while longer without him won’t catch up to them.

It won’t help that pitcher Brett Anderson is joining Yelich on the injured list along with Josh Lindblom, the man who replaced him on the mound. Anderson has a calf strain, while Lindblom has a knee problem.

On the plus side, Milwaukee welcomed Kolten Wong back from injury on Friday.

Before he came out with his injury, Yelich played nine games with a batting average of .333. The Brewers will need him to regain that form when he gets back if they want to maintain their control of the division in 2021.