Crew's shaky rotation gearing up for surplus of returning starters

TAMPA -- For six weeks, the Brewers have scrambled to hold together a starting rotation. But now, with his fingers crossed and knuckles knocking on wood, GM Matt Arnold is nearing a new problem, if you can call it that.

In the hours before the Brewers’ walk-off, 3-2 loss to the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field that was twice delayed by rain on Saturday, Arnold found himself answering questions about how the club will navigate a coming surplus of “length” options for the pitching staff.

“I do think this is a good problem for us,” he said.

Pitching has held the key to winning this season for the Brewers, who got home runs from Jackson Chourio and Joey Ortiz on Saturday but squandered a bases-loaded, one-out opportunity in the ninth inning and haven’t been out-slugging anybody. Or, as manager Pat Murphy put it more bluntly after his club’s third consecutive loss, “We’re not a very good offense right now.”

When the Brewers win, they usually win with run prevention. Now they are getting closer to bringing in some familiar names.

Brandon Woodruff and Aaron Civale
Woodruff is scheduled for one more rehab start on Sunday with Triple-A Nashville as he completes a multiyear comeback from shoulder surgery. It will be a shorter outing, in the neighborhood of 50 pitches, and the Brewers will have to activate him from the 15-day IL by Tuesday because his 30-day rehab window is closing. That means they will play short on the pitching staff until Woodruff is ready to pitch again.

The Brewers aren’t yet ready to say what day they have circled for Woodruff’s return, but it looks like it will be during the May 16-18 series against the Twins.

“We could have put him in our rotation sooner, but he felt like he needed one more outing,” Arnold said. “He just doesn’t want to go back on the IL. That was the thinking.”

Civale, meanwhile, threw 50 pitches in four scoreless innings for Nashville on Tuesday and is scheduled to start again early next week. His pitch count suggests he is far along in his comeback from a left hamstring injury, and he might be a week or less behind Woodruff in terms of rejoining the Major League rotation. Civale was solid for the Brewers last season, delivering a 3.53 ERA in 14 starts after a July 3 trade from Tampa Bay.

Aaron Ashby and DL Hall
Ashby’s rehab assignment moved to Nashville on Saturday (two innings, one hit, one earned run, two walks, two strikeouts, 41 pitches) as he works back from an oblique injury. Hall is expected to make the same move by the middle of next week as he comes back from a lat injury. After previously planning to build those young left-handers all the way up to a starter’s pitch count, the Brewers are now thinking they’ll fit best as multi-inning relievers for the remainder of this season.

Because he’s throwing shorter stints with fewer days in between, Ashby could rejoin the Brewers right around the time Woodruff does -- provided he’s ready.

“I think we’re still open to those guys pitching at the front of games in 2026 and beyond,” Arnold said. “But at the moment, I think [the bullpen] is where we have them. But that can always change.”

Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson
Henderson already dazzled in one Brewers start before going back to Nashville, where he’s working alongside MLB Pipeline’s top Brewers pitching prospect Misiorowski. The big righty set a season high with 11 strikeouts over 6 2/3 scoreless innings on Friday night while twice eclipsing 102 mph with his fastball. His walks are down and he has a 1.49 ERA on the season. It’s impossible to ignore that production.

“I had it on my iPad, so I was following along there,” Arnold said. “It was really fun to watch. He’s definitely gotten our attention with what he’s been able to do.”

Included in the calculus about when to promote Misiorowski is how the Brewers would make their other pitching pieces fit. Three rotation spots look locked down: Freddy Peralta, Jose Quintana and rookie Chad Patrick, who will take a 3.08 ERA to the mound for Sunday’s series finale in Tampa.

The wobbly spots right now Quinn Priester, who has walked about as many batters (19) as he’s struck out (20) and has a 5.08 ERA in six outings (five starts), and Myers, last year’s breakout starter for the Brewers, who has surpassed four innings once in his first four starts coming off a season-opening stint on the injured list. He walked three batters and needed 75 pitches for four innings against the Rays on Saturday.

Priester and Myers have Minor League options remaining. So do Patrick, Ashby and Hall.

“There’s information that we’re gaining every single day with these outings,” Arnold said. “Then it also gets into different ways you can deploy these guys as a length option at the front of the game or in the middle of the game. We’ve been creative with that in the past and we’re open to that with a lot of these guys here.”