What Brandon Woodruff’s New Prognosis Means for Brewers Pitching Staff

It was just over a month ago that Milwaukee Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff sat at the podium in American Family Field’s interview room and delivered some personal news to the media. News that was familiar to him, the team, and his fans.

Woodruff announced that he was having season-ending surgery on his throwing shoulder, an announcement many felt was inevitable. It was also one that raised more questions than answers.

Would Woodruff pitch for the Brewers ever again? Would he even pitch in MLB ever again?

After all, this would mark the second recent major surgery on the same part of his body. Woodruff previously underwent shoulder surgery after the 2023 season and missed over a full season of baseball as a result.

And that made it fair to question his future. You’ve got a 33-year-old pitcher who would be even older by the time he returned, undergoing a second major shoulder surgery on his throwing arm after already seeing a big drop in velocity following his first surgery.

But then, last weekend, everything changed. Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed before the Brewers’ game against the Braves that Woodruff, based on recent scans, was no longer being recommended to have surgery. He’d also soon be starting a throwing progression.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy confirmed as much shortly afterward.

“I’ve been hearing about this for a couple weeks, and I was like, it could happen, you know,” Murphy said. “But now we also have to think of reality. Okay, now he has to pick up the ball. Now it’s the progression back….but we’ll do anything we can to have Woody a possibility for any of this season.”

The news of Woodruff’s updated prognosis started spreading like wildfire on social media, with fans already wondering if he could return in time to help the team this season. Naturally, Murphy was asked exactly that question. His response?

“I think there’s a low possibility, you know. But I think there’s a possibility.”

What Does Woodruff’s New Injury Prognosis Mean for the Brewers Pitching Staff?

So now that the possibility is on the table, all eyes turn to when such a return might actually happen, if at all. To start to pinpoint that, one must know what Woodruff’s buildup timeline might look like.

According to Hogg, Woodruff’s throwing progression is planned to last five weeks, at which point he and the team will reevaluate. Since the progression was expected to start on August 26, that would put the reevaluation day at roughly September 30.

MLB would already be two days into the Wild Card round at that point, with the Division Series starting three days later. Assuming that Woodruff would still need to get some simulated games under his belt, you could probably rule the regular season and either of those two series out for a potential return.

So that leaves the League Championship Series as the likely earliest return for Woodruff. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, but the Brewers are looking to reach the NLCS for the second consecutive year after meeting the Dodgers there last season. Count Murphy among those who would be excited for it to happen.

“With the injuries we’ve had and the youth we have and some of the other things that haven’t bounced our way, like wouldn’t this be nice to have some real positive news?” Murphy asked. “Because everybody would want Woody on the mound.”

Even with reduced velocity from his peak days, Woodruff was having a solid season before his injury. In nine starts, the Brewers vet had put up a 2.98 ERA and .174 batting average against with 47 strikeouts to just 10 walks.

However, if Woodruff were to actually return in time for the playoffs, odds are he’d be used in a bullpen role. The Brewers already have one of the league’s best starting trios in Jacob Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison, and Logan Henderson, plus they traded for Dustin May at the deadline.

But Woodruff as a newly added weapon out of the bullpen could be a potentially strong weapon for Milwaukee. He’s already found a way to be more crafty as a pitcher and excel with lower max velocity. Imagine if he were able to get an extra 1-2 mph bump pitching as a reliever, which is what often happens to starters pitching in relief.

And then there’s the effect you can’t quantify, the effect on the crowd. If Woodruff were to enter a game at home in relief, the Milwaukee faithful, who thought they might never see him pitch in a Brewers uniform again, would go absolutely nuts. That would make for a tough atmosphere for opposing hitters.

Even if he weren’t to pitch, though, the exposure that the rest of the pitching staff would get from having a battle-tested, playoff-experienced veteran pitcher would also be immeasurable. That goes double for the younger guys on the staff, of which there are many.

“You can’t quantify it,” Murphy said, “but the guys like knowing he’s there, and he can give you that little vote of confidence or that little pick-me-up. Sometimes veterans have that in them, that they really care, and Woody has that gene where he really cares about others, and that can be really helpful.”

Whether Woodruff actually ends up returning this season remains to be seen. He has a lot of buildup to do, and much can happen in the next few weeks. However, maybe that’s not even the important part in all of this.

“It’s not for sure that he’s going to come back, and I know it’s not going to be easy,” Murphy said. “But I think it does his mind good that, you know what, I don’t need a surgery. I’m going to give it a try….so, yeah, exciting.”