Brandon Woodruff hasn’t pitched since September 23, 2023, as a shoulder surgical procedure the next month price the right-hander your entire 2024 season. It additionally price him what possible would’ve been an enormous long-term contract in free company this offseason, and the harm additionally quickly price Woodruff his spot on the Brewers’ roster, as Milwaukee non-tendered him final winter earlier than re-signing him to a two-year contract price $17.5MM in assured cash.
The expectation was that Woodruff would be capable of return to the mound in 2025, and in an interview with MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy earlier this week, Woodruff stated he’s “in a extremely, actually great place” in his restoration. He was given the go-ahead by Dr. Keith Meister (his surgeon) to go forward along with his customary offseason ramp-up course of, and Woodruff is presently throwing twice-weekly bullpen classes of fewer than 30 pitches.
The subsequent steps will contain extending the pitch rely and tossing a number of simulated innings, then dealing with reside batters. Brewers assistant athletic coach Bryn Hester has labored with Woodruff “a number of occasions” this offseason, and Woodruff is slated to go to the workforce’s spring camp website this week to throw on the Brewers’ pitching lab. Notably, Woodruff hasn’t examined his velocity this offseason, which was a deliberate tactic so he might focus merely on testing his shoulder and getting accustomed to pitching once more relatively than making an attempt to hit any checkpoints on his fastball.
This deal with course of is maybe why Woodruff can’t but assure that he’ll be prepared for Opening Day, though “I can inform you my mindset is to prepare for that.” Woodruff instructed McCalvy that he views maybe as a lot as the primary half of the season as one thing of an analysis interval, because it may not be till later within the season that he’ll have his outdated velocity and full command of his pitching repertoire.
“The additional I get out, the extra months that I get beneath my belt, the higher it’s,” Woodruff stated. “Actually, these first couple months arising throughout the season are essential. I believe if I can get by way of these okay and just do effective, I’ll be okay.”
Woodruff additionally revealed that he was aiming to try to pitch to hitters in a reside batting-practice setting by the tip of the 2024 season, although his shoulder “simply wasn’t prepared. Like, I couldn’t do it. And now I look again on that, I’m like, ’Gosh, that wasn’t however three months in the past, and have a look at the place I’m at now. I’ve made a lot progress.’ ”
A longtime staple of Milwaukee’s pitching workers, Woodruff has a 3.10 ERA and two All-Star appearances over his seven seasons and 680 1/3 innings within the massive leagues. Even whereas battling shoulder issues all through the 2023 season, Woodruff nonetheless managed a 2.28 ERA throughout his small pattern measurement of 67 innings, serving to lead the Brewers to a different division title.
The complete-powered model of Woodruff tasks to be the workers’s ace, or not less than co-ace together with Freddy Peralta. The 2 right-handers determine to headline a Brewers rotation that additionally contains Tobias Myers, Aaron Civale, and new acquisition Nestor Cortes, although there’s naturally some flexibility constructed into that group primarily based on Woodruff’s restoration timeline. DL Corridor and Aaron Ashby are the highest depth starters, and a reunion with veteran Wade Miley additionally appears a risk, although Miley is present process his personal restoration from a Tommy John surgical procedure final April.
It clearly shouldn’t be taken with no consideration that Woodruff will be capable of regain his outdated kind, given the severity of his harm and his prolonged layoff. Nevertheless, if he can pitch like one thing near his pre-surgery self, Woodruff will line himself up properly for a longer-term free agent contract subsequent offseason, as he’d absolutely decline his finish of a $20MM mutual choice for the 2026 season (and pocket the $10MM buyout).
Since Woodruff turns 32 subsequent month, it may be that his surgical procedure price him the chance to really maximize his earnings. As we’ve seen many occasions over, groups are nonetheless prepared to pay good cash to pitchers with checkered harm histories, even for pitchers who don’t have Woodruff’s robust monitor document. The associated fee-conscious Brewers would possibly nicely have traded Woodruff final winter (as they did Corbin Burnes) if he’d been wholesome, however the membership will as an alternative hope to have Woodruff once more serving to the membership attain the postseason, and this time make a deeper run into October.
