Brewers' Devin Williams out with stress fractures in back, sources say - ESPN

Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams was diagnosed with two stress fractures in his back and is expected to miss around three months, sources told ESPN on Wednesday, a significant blow for the National League Central champions, who were relying on a deep bullpen to buttress a lack of high-end starting pitching.

Williams, 29, is a two-time NL Reliever of the Year and owns a career ERA of 1.89. With the trade of All-Star starter Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles and All-Star starter Brandon Woodruff out for the season following shoulder surgery, the Brewers' bullpen was a weapon on which first-year manager Pat Murphy could rely.

Now, he'll have to do so without Williams for the foreseeable future. Back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins diagnosed Williams with stress fractures on the left and right sides of his T12 vertebra, sources said.

While Williams is expected to make a full recovery without surgery and return midseason, he'll be shut down from throwing for six weeks and then start a slow buildup, sources said.

Williams' back issues started in September, but with Milwaukee in the midst of a pennant race, he pitched through them. Following Milwaukee's wild-card series loss to Arizona, Williams took a month off before starting his offseason program. His back showed no issues coming into spring training, but it flared up during his first bullpen session and required treatment. During his second spring training outing, in which he allowed four runs in two-thirds of an inning, Williams noticed the back pain affecting his throwing mechanics and underwent an MRI.

Watkins saw potential stress fractures, and further imaging Wednesday confirmed pars fractures — which come from repetitive stress — on both sides of Williams'