William Contreras undergoes finger surgery

Brewer catcher William Contreras underwent minor surgery to repair his broken left middle finger, president of baseball operations Matt Arnold told reporters (link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). It will keep him from participating in baseball activities for five to six weeks, but is not expected to impact his availability for Spring Training.

Contreras played the entire 2025 season through the break. The injury is believed to have occurred during the ’24 season, although the team did not announce the presence of a hiatus until last May. Contreras has not been on the injured list once and has not had a single IL stint in his career. Only JT Realmuto has logged more starts or innings behind the dish this year.

The injury seemed to strain Contreras somewhat at the plate. He hit .260/.355/.399 with 17 home runs over 659 trips. That’s still strong production, especially from a catcher, but is below the .285/.366/.462 combined hitting he posted during his first two seasons in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee declined a $12 million option on Contreras this afternoon. That’s a procedural move that has nothing to do with the injury. He remains eligible for arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him at a salary of $11.1 million. Contreras collected a $100,000 option buyout, so any arbitration salary under $11.9 million would mean the Brew Crew would save themselves a bit of money with the option decision. Contreras will go through arbitration again and is on track to reach a free agency deal in the 2027-2028 offseason.