Brandon Woodruff Reaches The Pinnacle

It took righthander Brandon Woodruff six more weeks than originally planned but he finally made his major league debut for the Brewers.

Woodruff, a 24-year-old who rocketed up the organization’s prospect depth chart in recent years, was slated to make his first start for Milwaukee on June 13 in the first game of a doubleheader in St. Louis. But, incredibly, he strained a hamstring stretching in the outfield before going to the bullpen to warm up and was placed on the disabled list.

It was a disheartening development for Woodruff, an 11th-round pick in 2014 out of Mississippi State. He did his time on the DL, including a return to the Brewers’ training facility in Phoenix, before beginning a brief minor league rehab stint.

Finally ready again to pitch in the majors, Woodruff rejoined the Brewers to start on Aug. 4 in Tampa Bay. He threw 6.1 shutout innings to record the victory as the Brewers topped the Rays 2-0.

The 6-foot-4, 228-pound Woodruff is known as a bulldog who is mentally tough and keeps pounding hard sinkers at hitters. He does not rattle easily, and that was evident when the Rays loaded the bases in the first and second innings, then put two aboard in the third, without pushing across a run.

“You know, when that happened in St. Louis, I was pretty torn up about it,” Woodruff said. “But that (debut against the Rays) was, for sure, worth the wait.”

The Brewers feel the same about Woodruff. After reaching Double-A Biloxi and succeeding at in 2016, he projected to join the big league rotation this season—and now he has. He stepped into the rotation spot opened when the Brewers demoted the struggling Junior Guerra to Triple-A Colorado Springs.

If all goes according to plan, this could be the start of a long career for Woodruff.

“The day in St. Louis is going to make for a great story some day,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “We’ll laugh about it. Everyone will tell that story every time he takes the mound.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him get his career started. He’s an important player for us.”