Zastryzny, Berroa Begin Rehab Assignments with Triple-A Nashville Sounds

The Milwaukee Brewers sent left-hander Rob Zastryzny and outfielder Steward Berroa to Triple-A Nashville on rehab assignments March 31, beginning what both players hope will be short trips back to an active major-league roster.

Zastryzny's absence traces to the World Baseball Classic, where he sustained what the Brewers officially diagnosed as a left rhomboid strain. Milwaukee placed him on the 15-day injured list retroactive to March 22, with early April targeted as the return window. At Nashville, Zastryzny will work through controlled outings to rebuild arm strength and reestablish the command that made him effective for Milwaukee in 2024, when he posted a 1.17 ERA over 7⅔ innings in nine appearances before left elbow tendinitis ended his season. The left-hander represents one of the few experienced southpaw options in the Brewers' bullpen depth chart, which makes his timeline a priority for the organization.

Berroa, 26, is working back from a subscapularis strain, a rotator cuff injury that kept him out of spring training game action for weeks. By late March he had progressed to designated hitter duty in Arizona exhibitions, with the expectation that he would head directly to Nashville once cleared for full activity. There is no opening-day roster path through Milwaukee at this stage: the Brewers entered the season with Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Blake Perkins, and Jake Bauers penciled into outfield roles, leaving Berroa to make his case in Triple-A first.

His 2025 numbers complicate that case. Berroa hit .195 in 26 games at Nashville after Milwaukee acquired him from the Dodgers last July, though his production earlier that season tells a different story. Before a right shoulder injury derailed his time with Los Angeles' Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City, Berroa was hitting .330 with 11 stolen bases in 27 games, showing the speed and contact skills that kept him on a 40-man roster despite significant organizational roster competition. Getting healthy enough to replicate that version of himself in Nashville is step one.

For the Sounds, the dual rehab arrivals are routine in the organizational sense but add genuine texture to early-season roster composition. Nashville logged 16 major-league rehab assignments across the 2025 season, making this kind of movement familiar territory for the club. Veterans working back from injury create short-term competition for innings and at-bats, and give younger players the chance to perform alongside established names. Zastryzny's presence in the bullpen gives Nashville a credentialed left-handed arm while the Brewers monitor his workload; Berroa's time in the outfield will be measured against both his own health and what Milwaukee needs at the big-league level.

The practical decision window for both players is narrow. If Zastryzny's shoulder responds and the Brewers' bullpen situation calls for a left-hander, a brief Nashville stint could have him activated well before mid-April. Berroa's calculus is less straightforward: his health is one variable, but the depth in front of him in Milwaukee means he may be in Nashville longer than his rehab assignment strictly requires.