Will the Milwaukee Brewers finally be the franchise that can crack the code on how to keep outfielder David Dahl healthy and have him make an impact for a full season?
It hasn’t happened with the Colorado Rockies or Texas Rangers in Dahl’s five Major League seasons, but the Brewers reportedly want to see what he can potentially bring to the team in 2022.
The Milwaukee Brewers have extended David Dahl a non-roster invitation to spring training
After being designated for assignment and subsequently released by the Rangers in early August, Dahl was snapped up by the Milwaukee Brewers a few days later and sent to Triple-A Nashville. There, he posted a .327/.375/.536 slash line in 110 at-bats, hitting three home runs and driving in 15.
According to Will Sammon, who covers the Brewers for The Athletic, what Dahl did in Nashville was enough to impress the Brewers into wanting to see more of what he can do in spring training. An official invitation to spring training was extended to the 27-year-old Dahl just before the Collective Bargaining Agreement expired and a lockout went into effect.
Milwaukee will hope to figure out how to keep Dahl healthy as he has never played in more than 100 regular-season MLB games. That high mark came in 2019 with the Rockies in a season where he earned his only All-Star nod, but the campaign came to a screeching halt when a high ankle sprain suffered during a game at Coors Field against the San Francisco Giants on August 2 resulted in him being carted off the field and placed on the injured list. He would not play for the Rockies the rest of the season.
Dahl has an extensive list of injuries that you can see here. That list does not include a rib contusion that hounded him last season with the Rangers and would stunt his production as he slashed just .210/.247/.322 in 63 games before being designated for assignment.
There is no doubt that Dahl is talented when healthy, but can the Brewers keep him off the injured list? That will be as much of a question in spring training as what numbers Dahl can produce.