CINCINNATI -- Pitching in the second inning of what was potentially the last step in his multiyear comeback from shoulder surgery, rehabbing Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff was struck on the right elbow by a line drive and left his start for Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday.
Woodruff, who last pitched in the Majors in September 2023, recorded the first two outs in the second inning before Gwinnett’s Cade Bunnell hit a 108.2 mph comebacker that struck Woodruff in the right arm.
Initial X-rays in Nashville were negative, but Woodruff will return to Milwaukee for more extensive testing with the team’s physicians on Wednesday.
“I haven’t called him yet, but I will get in contact with him because I just watched the video, and hopefully he is OK,” said longtime teammate Freddy Peralta, who pitched into the seventh inning but absorbed the defeat in the Brewers’ 4-2 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park. “It’s crazy how things happen sometimes. We have to be grateful that we’re here playing the game, and hopefully he joins us soon. That’s what we want.”
For Woodruff, it’s the latest test for the 32-year-old, longest-tenured Brewers player, who made his Major League debut in 2017 and owns the best ERA in franchise history (3.10) among pitchers who have logged at least 500 innings. He was surging to the finish line for the 2023 NL Central champion Brewers when he developed discomfort during a late-season start in Miami, and underwent surgery the following month to repair the anterior capsule in his right shoulder.
After missing all of 2024, Woodruff resumed pitching during Spring Training and began a rehab assignment on April 12, only to injure his right ankle before a May 11 start. When that outing didn’t go well, the Brewers brought Woodruff back to Milwaukee for a reset, then began a new rehab assignment on May 21 that was supposed to conclude with an 80-pitch, six-inning outing in Nashville on Tuesday night.
Had that outing gone well, the Brewers were preparing to have Woodruff back in their rotation as soon as June 9 against the Braves at American Family Field. Now, those plans have changed again.
Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine said the next steps would depend not only on Woodruff’s visit with team doctors on Wednesday afternoon, but on how he recovers in the coming days. If he’s sidelined for more than a week, the Brewers can formally recall him from his current 30-day rehab assignment and then restart another new assignment whenever Woodruff is ready to pitch.
“We really won’t know what that timeline looks like until we get past the appointment, get the imaging, and then the reality of the situation is that it’s probably going to hurt for a few more days,” Kleine said. “So even though the appointment is [Wednesday], we may not know for several more days what a realistic timeline is on this. … Because he’s come so far already, the worst thing we can do is try to shortchange the timeline now.”
Woodruff’s teammates will get to see him Friday, when the Brewers open the longest homestand of the season with a three-game series against the Padres.
“The guy’s been through some adversity,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “This has been a long road back, but let’s not forget, he’s going to do great things.”