Quinn Priester’s breakout season with the Milwaukee Brewers is officially over before it really got started. The right-hander, who went 13-3 with a 3.32 ERA across 29 appearances last year, has been battling thoracic outlet syndrome since spring training. He tried rehab. He tried rest. He tried everything short of going under the knife. None of it worked.
So on Monday, Priester will have surgery with Dr. Greg Pearl to clean up the nerve and vascular issues in his throwing shoulder. The recovery timeline puts him out for the rest of 2026, but Priester is optimistic he’ll be back at full strength by early next season.
“Talking to Dr. Pearl again,” Priester told reporters, including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. “Doing all the things we had gone through to try to fix this problem without surgery. We just kind of got to the point where these things aren’t working. So we’re going to go down on Monday and get surgery with Dr. Pearl. Make sure we clean this issue up so that the rest of my career this isn’t an issue.”
A Surgery That’s Become More Routine
Thoracic outlet syndrome used to be a career-ender for pitchers, but the medical field has made strides. Priester noted that a decade ago this diagnosis would’ve raised serious question marks about his future. Now he’s confident the procedure will actually make him better in the long run.
“I feel really, really confident that we’re going to come back even better,” he said.
The recovery plan is straightforward. Eight to 10 weeks of rest, then plyometric throwing drills. Light catch at 12 weeks. Then a gradual buildup over three months. If everything goes as expected, Priester will be 100 percent physically after eight to 10 months — which puts his return right around spring training 2027.
From First-Round Pick to Brewers Breakout
Priester was the 18th overall pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2019 draft. He debuted in 2023 but struggled and got sent back down. In 2024 he was traded to the Boston Red Sox midseason and mostly pitched in the minors, though he did make one start for the big club. Then at the start of the 2025 season, the Brewers acquired him in what turned out to be a steal of a deal.
Milwaukee gave him the ball 24 times as a starter last year and watched him turn into one of the most reliable arms in their rotation. The Brewers had every reason to expect more of the same this season. Now they’ll have to navigate the NL Central race without him.
The team is 45-26 and sitting comfortably in first place in the division. They just wrapped up a three-game set against the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday. The bigger question is how they’ll manage their rotation depth with Priester out for the stretch run.
Priester’s still young — 26 years old when the 2027 season rolls around — and he believes that works in his favor for recovery.
“I’m still a pretty young guy to make that a little quicker,” he said.
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