Royals reliever suffers injury setback in rehab to cap lost 2023 season

The Kansas City Royals have been without reliever Jake Brentz for the entire season. The southpaw underwent Tommy John surgery last July and has been on the 60-day injured list since Opening Day. Brentz started a minor league rehab assignment last week, but the club announced this afternoon they were pulling him off that stint.

Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports that Brentz recently sustained a lat strain. He’s expected to miss the rest of the year. It’ll go down as a complete lost season, as he threw all of 2 2/3 minor-league innings.

Brentz, 29 next month, pitched 5 1/3 frames before last season’s elbow injury. He’d had a decent rookie campaign two years ago, tossing 64 innings of 3.66 ERA ball. He fanned an above-average 27.3 percent of batters faced while averaging 97 MPH on his heater. Brentz’s control was wobbly — he walked over 13 percent of opponents — but he boasted one of the better power arsenals among left-handed relievers.

The Royals non-tendered him last offseason but circled back in Spring Training on a guaranteed two-year contract. Kansas City is paying him $850K this season and will owe him $1.05M next year. Locking in a salary a few hundred thousand dollars north of the league minimum could give him a leg up on a roster spot, but Brentz won’t have any 2023 work to carry into the offseason. Kansas City will have to reinstate him back onto the 40-man roster once the offseason begins.