Woodruff resumes path back with bullpen session

MILWAUKEE -- Brandon Woodruff’s recovery has taken longer than he and the Brewers hoped, but on Sunday morning he took a step toward suiting up for the ballclub.

Woodruff threw his first bullpen session since he was struck on his right elbow by a comebacker in the second inning of his rehab start with Triple-A Nashville on June 3. That outing might have been the last step in his comeback, but the new injury forced him to pause his rehab.

Fortunately, the 32-year-old right-hander escaped with only a contusion and just had to wait for the swelling to go down before he could start throwing again. Woodruff mentioned he was told it could have been up to two weeks without throwing, but it took him only about a week until he could get back into it.

That led to his bullpen session Sunday. Woodruff threw 25 pitches, a mix of all his offerings, and it “felt good.” He’s not too big on metrics, he said, but “the stuff in the bullpen today was right where I want it to be.”

Woodruff said his body was moving better and the elbow was a “non-issue.” His shoulder “definitely feels better” after a little extra time off, he said, and regarding his body as a whole, he said, “It's been a while since I've been able to feel like this.”

Woodruff has tried to go through this entire process, starting with his October 2023 right shoulder surgery, with a positive attitude. So he has focused more on how this latest setback has benefited him.

“I think a lot of stuff happens for a reason,” Woodruff said. “Not that I want to get hit, but you can look at things and you can let it beat you down. But for me, I've taken this, I've used it to my advantage and gotten the body to feel better, fresher. Cleaned up a lot of stuff mechanically.

“So I used it for good. And if you look at it any other way, then you're just kind of digging yourself in a hole, as far as mentally. I've been doing this rehab for so long that that's not going to do me any good.”

The elbow setback followed a bout with right ankle tendinitis that forced Woodruff to pause his rehab assignment in mid-May. He hasn’t pitched in the Majors since Sept. 23, 2023, since having surgery to repair the anterior capsule in his right shoulder.

For his next step, Woodruff will stay in Milwaukee while the team goes to Chicago to face the Cubs at Wrigley Field, and he’ll throw an up-down bullpen session of 40 pitches, simulating two innings, he said -- either Wednesday or Thursday. Then comes the next step.

“I'll do the up-down here,” Woodruff said, “and then -- I'm not sure on the schedule, but I believe it's whenever they come back -- we'll possibly do an outing here, kind of like a live and then simulate a game. And then I'll get out and go pitch again. Tentatively, I think that's what it's looking like.”

When he does go back out on a Minor League rehab assignment, Woodruff hopes to throw around 60 pitches in his first outing and then 75-80 in his second. If all goes well, that might be enough for him to be ready to return to Major League action.

“That's my goal,” Woodruff said. “That's what I want to do, because I don't want to spend too much time down there.”