ATLANTA – There are easier places to make your return to the rotation than Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati but after nearly two months out of the mix for the Milwaukee Brewers, Brandon Woodruff is just grateful to be back pitching once again.
“It’s no different than any other ballpark in our division, I feel like,” the right-hander said on Sunday, June 21. He’s scheduled to open the Brewers’ series with the Reds opposite right-hander Brady Singer at 6:10 p.m. Monday.
Advertisement
“Fortunately I’ve been able to throw there a lot over the years and I’m familiar with it,” Woodruff continued. “Depending on what the weather’s like, it can be a tough day. You’ve just really got to keep the ball on the ground. Strikeouts seem to play a little bit more there. It’s just a familiar place.
“I’m not too concerned with what’s going on around me. I’m concerned with one pitch at a time and then I’ll take it from there.”
Woodruff last started for the Brewers on April 30, when he departed after only 1 ⅓ innings with what was described at the time as a “dead arm” after his fastball velocities were registering in the mid-80s.
Woodruff was diagnosed with shoulder inflammation in the wake of that start. But while visiting Dr. Keith Meister, who performed shoulder surgery on him following the 2023 season, Woodruff had fluid drained from a cyst in his shoulder which ultimately pushed what was hoped to be a minimum stint on the injured list out to roughly seven weeks.
Advertisement
He ultimately made two minor-league rehab starts, the last of which came on June 16 for Class High A Wisconsin and extended out to 5 ⅓ innings.
“Right now I’m feeling pretty good,” said Woodruff. “I was able to get up to the mid-80s in pitch count in the rehab games. Throughout this process it’s probably been good for me to do a full buildup. There was a possibility to come back the one before the last rehab start, but I think just sitting back and having a good chat with Murph I really realized I needed to run through this full buildup and give myself the best chance when I get out here in the big leagues.”
Woodruff is 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA, WHIP of 1.03 and 25 strikeouts in 30 innings over six starts to this point.
“I think we’ve come to know Woody, and he’s going to compete,” said manager Pat Murphy. “We know his stuff is not 96-97 (mph) the way it was, but we know Woody and Woody will compete.
Advertisement
“I don’t worry about the velocity with Woody because he locates. I’m sure it’ll be between 90 and 94 and there’ll be pitches at 90 and there’ll be pitches at 94. In that ballpark you’ve got to locate pretty good.
“I trust Woody.”
In the limited time he did pitch before landing on the IL, Woodruff was inducing chase, limiting hard contact overall and not walking batters. His average fastball velocity was a career-low 92.1 mph, however, and his ground-ball percentage of 30.1 was also the low-water mark of his nine years in the major leagues.
“It depends on the day,” said Woodruff when asked about his stuff. “I guess that’s natural for any pitcher, but I go back to last year rolling back into Miami and I honestly had no clue what was going to unfold that day, or really for the season because I really didn’t know how I wanted to pitch or how my stuff was going to play.
Advertisement
“I get in the game and I really try to get a feel for the game. Focus level goes up at this level; you can’t replicate it in the minor leagues. Honestly, it’s hard to get a gauge to where your stuff is per se because you’re going in blind against a minor-league team you don’t know and you have a better idea here.
“There’s so many variables when you’re going through a rehab process. But I’ve got a good base of where my stuff is and then once I get in the game I just go compete. There’s a rhyme or reason to what I do, but I go off of feel a lot. As far as the stuff, I’m always confident in my stuff but we’ll see tomorrow.”
Considering all the moving parts the Brewers have had in their rotation beyond the 1-2 stalwarts of Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison, getting a healthy Woodruff back should help stabilize things provided he can do what Murphy expects and get batters out relying largely on location and a veteran’s guile.
Advertisement
“I’m sick and tired of watching,” said Woodruff. “That’s been the hardest thing for me, because I want to be in the fight with them.
“I’m excited and I’m ready to do this.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ‘Sick and tired of watching,’ Brandon Woodruff returns to rotation vs Reds
