Yelich takes up guitar while on COVID list

MILWAUKEE -- Christian Yelich found a productive way to pass the time while quarantined with COVID-19. He learned to play the guitar.

“I made some progress because I had a lot of hours to do nothing,” Yelich said. “I was able to kind of lock in on it.”

Yelich was first on what has become a roster of nine Brewers players to be sidelined by COVID-19 in the last 11 days. Seven have tested positive: Yelich, relievers Josh Hader, Jake Cousins and Hunter Strickland, infielder Keston Hiura and starters Eric Lauer and Adrian Houser -- Houser on Friday afternoon after reporting symptoms earlier in the day. Jace Peterson landed on the IL as a close contact of Yelich but never tested positive. Another, reliever Kandel Gustave, initially was placed the IL as a close contact of Cousins and Strickland, then tested positive himself earlier this week, the Brewers announced on Friday.

So far, only Peterson has returned to action for the Brewers. Yelich cleared testing protocol on Wednesday and was allowed to work out at American Family Field on Thursday and Friday. The Brewers elected not to activate him from the IL on Friday, preferring not to rush him back too quickly after he spent his entire 10-day quarantine at home without swinging a bat.

Is Yelich concerned about the number of Milwaukee players on the sidelines?

“It’s just a worry in the sense that you need enough guys to play,” he said. “You don’t want to have too many guys out at the same time, but we just have to make the best we can with what we’ve got. Guys have to step up. That’s kind of what we’ve been doing all year. Different guys have been stepping up, and when it’s their turn to do something big for the team, they seem to do it.”

In his own case, Yelich thought he had a summer cold. So, he showed up early at American Family Field before the Brewers were to depart for Pittsburgh on July 26 and asked a member of the athletic training staff whether he might administer some medicine to help him feel better on the flight.

That led to a test for COVID-19, which came back positive and delayed the Brewers’ travel until the next day. Peterson was caught up in contact tracing that same day, and it wasn’t until July 30 that the next positives popped up.

Then they kept coming, including Houser on Friday.

“I mean, I wasn’t feeling great. But I didn’t think I had COVID by any means,” Yelich said. “It is what it is. It’s unfortunate that it’s something that we’re dealing with. It’s kind of running through the team a little bit right now. We just have to find a way.”

Yelich still hasn’t fully recovered his sense of taste and smell but said he felt better almost immediately after landing on the COVID-19 IL. He stayed connected with the Brewers via FaceTime with teammates and some texts with manager Craig Counsell. He binge-watched the television series "Yellowstone" over the first couple of days, and the guitar arrived on day 3 or 4 of his 10-day quarantine.

If he sticks with it, Wisconsin’s sports teams could form quite a band; fellow league MVPs Giannis Antetokounmpo and Aaron Rodgers also have dabbled with the guitar.

“I always wanted to learn how to play,” Yelich said. “I never took the plunge and did it. I was like, well, I literally had nothing to do for 10 days, so I might as well give it a shot here.”

Anything to find something positive about what has been a trying year for Yelich. He spent about six weeks on the injured list earlier this season with a low back strain, and though he eventually returned, his power has not. Yelich’s .367 slugging percentage is the lowest mark of his career.

“It hasn’t been a great one,” he said of 2021. “It’s up and down. What are you going to do? It’s been a great year for our team and you just have to pass through this little rough spot here and hopefully get our guys back and finish strong. It didn’t all go according to plan. You just have to do the best you can and battle through.”