What happened to Quinn Priester? Why Brewers' young righty will miss rest of 2026 season

The Milwaukee Brewers have been one of the best teams in Major League Baseball this season, and they've been getting a lot of great production from young players, especially in the starting rotation.

Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison are having Cy Young-caliber seasons so far, and Misiorowski is likely the front-runner at this rate. But not all of their young pitching is having a good season.

Unfortunately, as Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports, young right-hander Quinn Priester is going to miss the rest of the 2026 season, as he never got a chance to join this fun young rotation in Milwaukee during the 2026 season.

Why Quinn Priester is done for rest of 2026 season

"Brewers starter Quinn Priester will have thoracic outlet decompression surgery on Monday and will miss the entirety of this season," McCalvy reports.

This is a massively unfortunate update for the Brewers and Priester, but it's not too shocking considering he was on the 60-day injured list and his rehab outings this season weren't going well.

But, this is still a tough update for the young Brewers right-hander this season. If he were a part of this rotation with a breakout Harrison and Misiorowski, it might've been the best young rotation in MLB by a wide margin.

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Last year for the Brewers, Priester had a 3.32 ERA with a 13-3 record and 132 strikeouts in 29 outings and 24 starts. His .813 winning percentage led all of Major League Baseball, and his 3.0 bWAR was a breakout season for the righty.

Now, Priester will miss a lot of time, and hopefully will be able to come back in 2027, barring a potential lockout, and help the Brewers' rotation become one of the best, if not the best, in all of MLB.

The Brewers now have a greater need for rotation help than ever before, as there's no longer any doubt about Priester potentially returning this season or not. His 2026 season is over, as he's now set to have thoracic outlet decompression surgery.

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