Woodruff returns to game action in massive step for recovery

PHOENIX -- Pitching against Padres Minor Leaguers in an empty stadium but for a smattering of fans -- including his wife and young daughter, a gaggle of Brewers teammates in the back row and what seemed like half of the front office watching from the concourse -- Brandon Woodruff tested his surgically repaired right shoulder pitching in a game Tuesday for the first time in nearly 18 months.

Woodruff got a strikeout and a groundout. He gave up three runs on three hits including a double and a homer. The 32-year-old right-hander touched 94 mph. He got squeezed by the umpire. He emerged healthy and feeling strong. It was the full experience.

“This thing teaches me right now, and what I’ll have to work on going forward, is when you leave balls over the middle like that with lower velocity, it’s gonna get hit hard,” Woodruff said. “It was an emotional day. Just early on today, being around the guys and then with the support and everything, I know it’s just a Minor League game, but it means a lot.”

Barring an unforeseen setback, Woodruff’s next step will be even more significant. He’s penciled in to pitch at least one inning in Sunday’s Cactus League game against the Guardians at American Family Fields of Phoenix. It would be his first time facing Major League hitters not wearing a Brewers uniform since Sept. 23, 2023.

There are still many more steps to go before Woodruff thinks about pitching in a regular-season game. He’ll have to build endurance over a series of Spring Training starts, then navigate a 30-day Minor League rehabilitation assignment. But as his velocity ticks up and his secondary stuff improves -- Woodruff said his changeup particularly needs work -- the end of his rehab grows nearer.

“From what I’m learning and what I’m hearing, each step you take, you get a little bump,” Woodruff said. “The first [live batting practice] was 92 mph when I came in. Today, first game action, a 2 mph bump. If you keep it in those increments -- who’s to say if I get in a Cactus League game and it bumps up another 1 or 2 mph -- heck, you’re really not that far off from where you were before. Then it becomes getting used to the load again. And that’s the biggest thing to get used to. I probably got tired there toward the end.”

Woodruff’s results could have looked different with a call here and there. One observer in Woodruff’s camp counted five misses from the Minor League umpire on what should have been called strikes, including a pitch to leadoff hitter and top Padres prospect Leo De Vries, who eventually did get called out on strikes on a 93 mph fastball.

A single followed, then a run-scoring double over the left fielder’s head from Brendan Durfee and a two-run home run to left-center field for Rosman Verdugo, MLB Pipeline’s No. 25 Padres prospect. That marked the end of Woodruff’s outing.

“At the end of the day, for the first game action in 17 months, it’s not really that big of a deal,” Woodruff said of the close pitches called balls. “My focus is on getting in here and getting some treatment and recovering and getting to the next one. But [it was] a huge step.”

Some of the families of Padres prospects in the stands didn’t realize who their sons and grandsons were facing, but there were signs. Woodruff took the mound in his Brewers home whites, while the rest of his teammates from High-A Wisconsin wore navy blue jerseys. And Woodruff’s usual walk-up song carried over the public address system while he warmed up, Luke Bryan’s “What Makes You Country.” There was also the fact that the game took place in the main stadium at Milwaukee’s spring complex instead of on the back fields.

Among the fans in the stands were Brewers teammates Brice Turang, Nestor Cortes, Tobias Myers, Trevor Megill, Jared Koenig and Eric Haase. Left-hander Aaron Ashby, who had to come back from his own shoulder surgery, was in the dugout. Their presence told you something about Woodruff. So did the fact that after he answered questions about his outing, he thanked everyone for sticking around to watch him pitch, even though it meant missing the first few innings of the Brewers-Cubs game across town in Mesa.

“This is a journey, it’s fun,” Woodruff said. “This is what we do. This is what we love. I’m looking forward to navigating this whole thing.”