Brewers clarify Brandon Woodruff's injury timeline amid rotation uncertainty

When Brandon Woodruff's fastball velocity dipped more than 7 mph in the first inning of his April 30 start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Milwaukee Brewers' fanbase collectively held their breath, hoping that the sudden change wasn't an indication of another devastating injury for the veteran right-hander. Thankfully, it was quickly revealed that Woodruff was simply suffering from a "dead arm," in part due to some inflammation that popped up in his right shoulder, but nothing that would be considered "long-term."

The Brewers did place the veteran starter on the 15-day IL, but the initial feeling was that Woodruff would only be out a couple of weeks. He had a minor procedure shortly thereafter to remove some fluid from his shoulder, but still, the club remained optimistic that Woodruff's return would fall sometime near the first of June.

Woodruff resumed throwing activities back on May 9, and completed his first bullpen session on May 14, which led to encouragement that he would be back in the rotation before the end of the month. However, as revealed by the Brewers on Tuesday afternoon, Woodruff is scheduled to throw a live batting practice session next week, during which he will throw 60 pitches and complete four "ups."

The news revealed that Woody will not be joining the active roster for today's series finale as some expected, but rather will be back sometime late next week -- presumably, the veteran hurler will need a few days of rest after his live BP session, and the Brewers won't reinstate him from the IL until he's ready to pitch.

Meanwhile, starting on Friday in Houston, the Brewers will play 13 days in a row -- their longest streak without an off-day so far this season. While Woodruff is likely to rejoin the rotation in the middle of that stretch, the games in between pose a difficult conundrum for the Brewers' pitching staff.

Brandon Woodruff to throw another bullpen session next week, Brewers will need to get creative with rotation in the meantime

With Logan Henderson also landing on the injured list yesterday afternoon, the Brewers are left with four "true starters" on their current roster: Jacob Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison, Brandon Sproat, and the recently promoted Coleman Crow. The rookie Crow is scheduled to make his third major league start in the Brewers' series opener against the Houston Astros on Friday night, but the Brewers will presumably still have to fill one more spot in the rotation before Woodruff returns.

Between Shane Drohan, Chad Patrick, and Carlos Rodriguez, the Brewers have three arms in their bullpen who have recently been used as starting pitchers, so covering the innings before Woodruff returns shouldn't be too big of a problem, but it does shuffle things around in the relief corps in the meantime.

The Brewers could call upon Robert Gasser once more, but such a move would require one of their other pitchers to land on the injured list. Gasser was optioned to Triple-A on May 24, and a pitcher can't be recalled to the major league roster less than 15 days after they've been optioned to Triple-A unless they are replacing an injured player. 15 days from May 24 is June 8, and by that time it's more than likely Woodruff will already be back in the rotation.

Milwaukee most certainly has the arms to handle Woodruff's extended stay on the IL, but the decisions they make will still have ripple effects on the rest of the pitching staff. With a stretch of 13 games in 13 days on the horizon, those decisions carry even more weight.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow