Brandon Woodruff makes best of latest setback after being struck by 108.2-mph line drive
If anyone can make the best of a bad situation, it's Brandon Woodruff.
Four days after being struck in his pitching elbow by a 108.2-mph line drive, the right-hander chose to put a good face on a setback that will push back his return to the Milwaukee Brewers' rotation for the second time in as many minor-league rehab assignments.
"That’s life, you know?" said Woodruff, who was first expected to return in mid-May but was sidetracked by an ankle injury.
Shoulder surgery in October of 2023 kept him out for all of the 2024 season, and Woodruff has traveled a long road so far this season with nine tune-up starts and counting.
Woodruff on Thursday was officially returned from his rehab assignment and remains on the 15-day injured list.
"I could have been walking down the street and broke my ankle walking off the sidewalk or something," he continued. "It’s about putting everything in perspective. I was lucky that I got away with what I got away with. It could have hit me in the head. If you look at it a lot of different ways, it’s just take it for what it is.
"It sucked in the moment because I’d gotten to essentially the finish line the last two times and something has popped up. Stay positive. I look at it like my luck will turn around eventually, but man, that’s baseball. Things can happen like that.
"Take it for what it is and just show up the next day and keep going.”
Woodruff was pitching in the second inning for the Class AAA Nashville Sounds when the line drive struck him on the outside of his elbow, a shot so hot that the ball ricocheted off and all the way to the far end of his team's dugout.
He was immediately removed from the game, underwent X-rays that were negative, and then traveled back to Milwaukee the next day for a more thorough examination that determined Woodruff had suffered a contusion.
Sporting a tight sleeve on his right arm as he spoke to reporters, Woodruff reported the pain has already subsided. He also revealed that a couple screws that had been placed in 2013 when he was hit while pitching at Mississippi State might have actually prevented more extensive damage.
“It’s fine; I've just got to get the swelling out," he said. "Initially, when it hit me, it was 108 – there was no getting out of the way, It was pure reaction. I think the first thing you try to do is you try to catch the ball to protect yourself, and when it hit me, it got me good. I was trying to process everything that was going on walking off the field, not knowing if this was going to be bad or not.
"It’s crazy how things work. I think everything kind of happens for a reason in a sense. I’d rather not get hit and have to miss a little time here, but it’s crazy how this whole thing worked out. It hit me in a spot where it didn’t cause any damage. I didn’t know that in the moment. My biggest fear was that it was going to be broken and likely cost me the rest of the season.
"Got away with it."
Manager Pat Murphy said the medical staff has a two-week plan laid out for Woodruff but that things could progress more quickly based on how his elbow responds.
The primary focus, of course, is Woodruff's long-term health. The Brewers have done just fine in the starting-pitching department in his absence – the staff ranked fifth in the major leagues with a 3.44 cumulative ERA entering Saturday although its 309 total innings were the fifth-fewest.
"Now, he feels so much better that I think they're going to let him start throwing, get to a bullpen here before long and see where he's at after his bullpen," Murphy said. "Again, the one thing we don't want, for himself and for us both, is we don't want this turn into where we're rushing him back in any way, shape or form, right?
"He was going to start throwing on the 10th; he feels like he can start throwing before that, and then we have a bullpen on the 17th, but he feels like he could do that before then. So, a little throwing progression, make sure it's OK.
"Maybe he'd get out on the mound before that, and then he's obviously got to do some things that prove that he can go back out — maybe throw a live BP or something and then go out on assignment. We would not want Woody to be out there unless he's 100 percent healthy."
In his nine starts, Woodruff was 3-1 with a 2.11 ERA and WHIP of 1.10 and 34 strikeouts in 38 ⅓ innings, with fastball velocity that was sitting low- to mid-90s.
"I was throwing the ball well," he said. "You guys have seen the velocity, and that’s rehab. If I were to sit here and tell you that nine starts into a rehab assignment, that I would have a sub-2 ERA or whatever it was going into that last one, I would be absolutely thrilled, because honestly I didn’t know how it was going to go. And, quite frankly, I didn’t care about results.
"I cared about getting my body ready and trying to get this body and shoulder used to throwing again. When you go through such a long process like this, there’s times where you peak. There’s times where you plateau a little bit, and that’s just all a part of that process of getting back to getting used to throwing again. Essentially, it’s a year-and-a-half almost.
"I’m still pitching. I’m still running through the things I do normally when I’m out here – just with lesser stuff, and that’s fine. Once you get (back to the majors), it’s a different animal. The adrenaline’s pumping a lot more, so I’m expecting a little bit of a jump there."