After just one game of the regular season, the Milwaukee Brewers are suddenly down two of the primary nine position players they expected to begin 2026 with.
First, on Opening Day, left fielder Jackson Chourio was ruled out for two to four weeks after he sustained a fractured left hand with Venezuela in a March 4 World Baseball Classic exhibition game and exacerbated the injury in the final tune-up games to begin this week. Then on Saturday, first baseman Andrew Vaughn followed Chourio to the 10-day injured list with a fractured left hamate bone.
Vaughn is expected to miss four to six weeks following surgery, which is scheduled for Monday. The hamate bone is a small, relatively useless bone at the base of the ring and little finger bones. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor had surgery to remove his left hamate bone on Feb. 11 and returned to play a spring training game on March 15. Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Corbin Carroll broke his right hamate bone on Feb. 11, had surgery the same day, and was back in action March 11. Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday had his right hamate bone removed Feb. 12 and began a rehab assignment Friday. Those cases show the ends of the four- to six-week recovery.
Generally, there are no long-term effects to hitters who have their hamate bone removed, although there could be some short-term negative impact.
So what do the Brewers do now? It is a little complicated, but that is what the Brewers do. This is where their positional versatility will come into play. It just depends on how manager Pat Murphy wants to execute the plan.
With catcher Jeferson Quero, Brewer Fanatic’s No. 7 prospect, called up to take Vaughn’s spot on the roster and set to make his MLB debut, there are two obvious solutions.
Jake Bauers, a left-handed hitter who plays first base and left field and was expected to be the top bat off the bench this year, started in left field on Opening Day in place of Chourio. Bauers went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer in the Crew’s 14-2 triumph over the Chicago White Sox. Bauers is a good defender at the position and had a tremendous spring that carried over to the season’s first game. If Bauers is at first base, that would put Brandon Lockridge, a right-handed hitter, or Blake Perkins, a switch-hitter, in left field.
On Saturday, Bauers started at first, and Lockridge was in left.
The other top option, considering Quero was called up, would be backup catcher Gary Sanchez, a right-handed hitter who could be in the lineup against left-handed starting pitchers. Bauers could still be in the lineup in left field, with Sanchez at first base and William Contreras behind the plate. Sanchez doesn’t have a wealth of experience at first, having made four of his seven MLB appearances at the position in 2024 in his first stint with the Crew.
Those two choices provide Murphy with the ultimate flexibility. But there are other pieces to the plan. Contreras, who wants to play every day, could slide over to first base, where he made his lone appearance last year in the ninth inning of a 14-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 12. That would come into play when Quero starts behind the plate.
A bit out of the box, infielders Luis Rengifo and David Hamilton could try their hand at first base. Neither has played the position in the majors or minors, but both have played third base and should be able to adjust to the mechanics of first base, at least in an emergency.
Bauers at first and Lockridge in left feels like the most likely configuration, but the Brewers do have the flexibility for other combinations.
Vaughn and Chourio were big parts of the Brewers’ offense entering the season, but now must deal with the absence of the hitters for a good chunk of April, a month where they have a season-high five days off (not including July’s All-Star break).