Brewers news: Brandon Woodruff injury update, Kyle Harrison's fatigue, Jacob Misiorowski opts out

When the Milwaukee Brewers were constructing their 2026 roster during the offseason, they were anticipating the duo of Quinn Priester and Brandon Woodruff being atop their rotation. After trading away former ace Freddy Peralta, Priester, who was entering his second season in Milwaukee after a breakout 2025 campaign, and Woodruff, who, via the qualifying offer, earned the highest single-season salary for a pitcher in franchise history, were each expected to cover a heavy workload in 2026. Now, there's a growing possibility that the Brew Crew will be without both for the second half of the 2026 campaign.

Priester is officially out for the season after undergoing surgery for a thoracic outlet syndrome-related injury that has reportedly plagued him dating back to August of last year. Woodruff, meanwhile, is in the land of uncertainty after landing back on the IL with shoulder inflammation just three starts after he returned from the same injury. Thankfully, the duo of Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison has stepped up in Priester and Woodruff's stead, leading a Brewers' rotation that is somehow still setting the ERA pace in MLB.

However, while Milwaukee's ability to piece together starts during the first half of the season worked to unparalleled success, there's reason to doubt their ability to do so in the second half of the campaign. Here are three storylines with implications for the Brewers' second-half rotation plans that could push them to make an external addition at the trade deadline.

Brandon Woodruff seeking second opinion on shoulder injury after imaging reveled new injury

Back in late April, when Woodruff first experienced what came to be known as a "dead arm" incident, the medical diagnosis ended up being shoulder inflammation and the presence of a cyst in Woody's shoulder that later needed to be drained. However, at the time, there reportedly wasn't any major structural damage to Woodruff's surgically repaired shoulder, which led to encouragement that the veteran right-hander would be able to rejoin the rotation in short order.

Though it didn't end up being as brief of a stint on the injured list as the Brewers and Woody hoped it would be, the 33-year-old Woodruff returned to the mound roughly two months after his placement on the IL, and was just as effective as he had been prior to the injury. In his first two starts back from the IL, Woody tossed a combined 11.2 innings, allowed zero runs on two total hits, and struck out 16.

Unfortunately, in his third start back, Woody's velocity once again suddenly dipped and he was pulled from the game after just 61 pitches. The Brewers placed Woodruff back on the IL with shoulder inflammation, but this time it appears to be more serious for the long-time Brewer. Initial imaging showed a new injury to Woodruff's anterior shoulder capsule, which was repaired during his major shoulder surgery back in the fall of 2023. Woody is currently waiting on a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister, who repaired his shoulder three years ago, but the situation doesn't look great for the Brewers' veteran leader. More to come.

Kyle Harrison experiencing fatigue, elbow soreness as impressive first half comes to a close

The 24-year-old Harrison has filled the void left by Priester with head-turning success during the first half of the 2025 campaign. With Misiorowski emerging as the team's ace, Harrison has been a dominant No. 2 starter in the way that Priester supported Peralta as the one-two punch in Milwaukee's rotation last year. Harrison, who the Brewers acquired from the Boston Red Sox in the Caleb Durbin trade over the offseason, posted a 3.01 ERA and an impressive 29.6% strikeout rate during the first half of the season.

However, Harrison's ERA and overall effectiveness for that matter, were far better during his first 15 starts of the year than they were in his most recent two. A short 2.2-inning start in Arizona over the weekend, in which Harrison allowed three earned runs and struck out just three, was followed by a 4.0-inning start last night during which the young southpaw once again allowed three earned runs and struck out just two batters. Harrison threw 72 and 70 pitches in those two starts, leading to questions about his health after last night's start.

During his postgame interview, manager Pat Murphy revealed that Harrison had been dealing with fatigue and elbow soreness during his two most recent starts, and that was both why he was pulled early from last night's start and the reason for his decreased effectiveness as of late. Harrison himself confirmed this report and noted that he's not "overly concerned" about the setback in a conversation with MLB.com Brewers' beat reporter Adam McCalvy, as seen in the post below.

Jacob Misiorowski officially opts out of All-Star Game, giving the Brewers' ace a much-needed rest as innings count grows

Misiorowski was unsurprisingly named an All-Star when the National League's roster was revealed last weekend. The 24-year-old flamethrower continues to lead all qualified starters in ERA, strikeouts, WHIP, and opponent batting average, and was therefore a candidate to start Monday's All-Star Game for the National League.

However, it was quickly revealed that an All-Star Game start may not be in the cards for the Brewers' ace, as Milwaukee's upcoming schedule included Misiorowski making a start against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first half finale the day before the Midsummer Classic. As a result, earlier this week, Misiorowski officially opted out of pitching in the All-Star Game. Miz is still an All-Star, and will appear alongside William Contreras in Philadelphia when the teams are announced prior to Monday's game, but his opting out of pitching allows MLB to name a new All-Star, one who is available to pitch, in his stead.

As fun as it would be to see Miz start the All-Star Game, the week off won't be the worst thing for the Brewers' budding superstar. Misiorowski is already approaching the career-high innings count that he set last year, and with his availability down the stretch being of the utmost importance, limiting his innings whenever possible is a wise move.

Brewers fans were hoping that Miz's replacement would be Harrison, or one of the team's two deserving relievers, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill. However, MLB instead elected to have Pirates' right-hander Braxton Ashcraft replace Miz on the NL's roster. Time still remains for a few more players to opt out and be replaced by one of the Brewers' worthy stars, but it's looking increasingly likely that the second-best team in baseball will send just two players to the 2026 All-Star Game.

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