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Brewers declaring victory after Brandon Woodruff’s return to mound could be a mistake

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Reviewing The Brew

St. Louis Cardinals v Milwaukee Brewers / John Fisher/GettyImages

Whenever any pitcher has been dealing with a long-term injury like Milwaukee Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff has been, getting back on the field is the first step. A guy can check all the boxes he wants in the doctor's office or in the training room, but the real test is getting on the mound against real hitters and seeing how things look.

Woodruff took that very step this week when he faced Padres minor league hitters and the chorus of praise was very loud and very quick. The Brewers' rotation anchor talked about feeling good facing hitters again and even hilariously complained that the umpire was squeezing him. Observers also noted that Woodruff's breaking stuff looked sharp as well and the positive spin has been rather rampant.

However, a closer look at exactly what transpired was more mixed news. No one should care that much about Woodruff's first outing back either way, but fans may want to pump the brakes on declaring that he is officially himself again.

Brandon Woodruff's return for Brewers came with a mix of optimism and concern

The best news that came from Woodruff's outing is that he feels healthy and no one should take that away from him. Shoulder surgeries like Woodruff's are incredibly difficult to bounce back from and that his stuff even approached looking like a big league pitcher right off the rip is great.

However, there are still obstacles to overcome. Some were excited that his velocity is trending up over his previous sessions, Woodruff still only hit 94 mph with his fastball and he probably needs to be throwing harder than that before returning. There is also the small matter of the fact that the Padres minor leaguers tagged Woodruff for three runs on three hits including a homer.

Will Woodruff pitch early in 2025 for the Brewers? That is almost a certainty barring a disastrous setback. However, getting back on the mound again is only the first step. Now we need to see how he recovers from that outing and if he can build upon it. That may seem like a foregone conclusion for some, but shoulder injuries are no joke and Woodruff is not out of the woods yet.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.