Brewers' Taylor Clarke to get second opinion on right meniscus injury

Right-hander Taylor Clarke suffered a right meniscus injury and is getting a second opinion to see if surgery can be avoided, Brewers manager Pat Murphy told MLB.com and other media. 

Clarke will certainly start the season on the 15-day injured list, and the hope is that he can avoid a significantly longer amount of downtime.

Milwaukee acquired Clarke in a December trade with the Royals, hoping that Clarke could bounce back from a rough 2023 campaign. The righty posted a 5.95 ERA in 59 innings for Kansas City, as big spikes in Clarke’s barrel and home run rates resulted in 12 homers out of the park over those 59 frames. 

His 24.4% strikeout rate was slightly above average, but his walk rate increased sharply to nine percent after Clarke had posted a very impressive 3.9 BB% in 2022.

Surely the Brewers are hoping Clarke pitches closer to that 2022 form (when he had a 4.04 ERA in 49 innings for K.C.), but for now, the priority is just getting him healthy and onto the mound. Meniscus-related injuries carry a wide range of potential timelines based on the extent of the damage, and whether or not Clarke needs surgery. If he does have to go under the knife, an absence of four to six weeks is probably the best-case scenario for a meniscus surgery.

Turning to another injured Brewers hurler, Brandon Woodruff’s recovery from shoulder surgery will prevent him from pitching during the 2024 season, the right-hander told Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

The right-hander was already expected to miss most of the year rehabbing, which was reflected in both the Brewers’ decision to non-tender Woodruff and in the backloaded nature of the two-year, $17.5M deal he signed to rejoin the Crew last month. Woodruff will earn $2.5M in 2024 and a $5M salary in 2025, plus a $10M buyout of a $20M mutual option for the 2026 season.