Brewers' Braun to miss time after undergoing cryotherapy on right thumb
The Milwaukee Brewers will be without one of their top bats for a handful of games.
Outfielder Ryan Braun is undergoing another cryotherapy procedure on his troublesome right thumb, and hopes to return to the lineup by Sunday.
The procedure was pre-planned by the Brewers, and is being considered a maintenance issue for Braun, who has slashed a brutal .194/.242/.226 over his last seven games.
"It's not a situation where he can't play," manager Craig Counsell told MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. "We've seen that. He's playing. But he just felt a little deterioration in it, and the effectiveness of the therapy had kind of expired. It's more to get him at 100 percent and not just get through it for the rest of the season."
Braun has a nerve issue in the thumb dating back to last season, which causes numbness and hampers his ability to wield a bat. He underwent the same procedure in 2014 and missed about a week of action.
The Brewers are already missing outfielder Khris Davis for up to six weeks due to knee surgery.