Brewers' pair of rehabbing rookie starters could return to rotation before All-Star Break

The Milwaukee Brewers' starting rotation impressively held their own in the absence of Brandon Woodruff, Logan Henderson, and Coleman Crow, each of whom has thrown meaningful innings for the big-league club during the 2026 campaign, but unfortunately landed on the IL at some point in the last two months.

A "dead arm" incident for Woodruff, which led to a minor procedure in his elbow, kept the Brewers' veteran right-hander away from a big-league mound for nearly two months. However, Woody returned with a vengeance on Monday night, carrying a perfect game into the sixth inning in the Brewers' series opener against the Cincinnati Reds and eventually racking up 10 strikeouts. Milwaukee's rotation instantly looks much different if Woody continues to pitch like he did two nights ago alongside the dominant seasons that Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison are putting together.

Meanwhile, both Henderson, who is out with a lower back injury, and Crow, who has a low-grade flexor strain, are nearing their returns from the injured list after each recently taking meaningful steps forward in their respective rehab processes. As announced by the team earlier today, Henderson has progressed to throwing live bullpen sessions without any issues and is set to begin a rehab assignment this coming Sunday, July 28, while Crow threw his first bullpen session yesterday. The latter is not expected to need as lengthy of a build-up as Henderson, and as a result, both rookie right-handers are expected to come off the IL early next month, likely before the All-Star Break begins on July 13.

However, while the Brewers are certainly looking forward to having both rookie starters healthy and back to pitching on a consistent basis, questions are certainly present as to what the two right-handers' roles will be with the big-league club when they eventually leave the injured list.

Logan Henderson should immediately rejoin the Brewers' rotation upon return from IL, Coleman Crow's future role is less certain

Having more viable starting options than rotation spots is undoubtedly a good problem to have, but at the end of the day, said situation leads to some difficult decisions. With Miz, Harrison, and Woody locked into the top three spots in the Brewers' rotation, just two spots remain despite Milwaukee having five options who could realistically fill them: Henderson, Crow, Robert Gasser, Shane Drohan, and Brandon Sproat.

Sproat looks almost guaranteed to keep his rotation spot, despite his inconsistency through the first two months of the season. The Brewers remain committed to developing Sproat at the major league level, and the rookie right-hander whom Milwaukee acquired from the New York Mets during the offseason, proved why last night. Facing the Reds, Sproat turned in his best start of the season, posting an identical statline to the one Woodruff turned in the night prior: six scoreless innings, one hit, no walks, and 10 strikeouts. The upside with Sproat has always been apparent, and the Brewers believe the best way for him to gain consistency is to work through his struggles at the major league level -- a fine strategy so long as the team is winning games.

With Sproat seemingly locked into a spot in the rotation that leaves Henderson, Crow, Gasser, and Drohan for the No. 5-starter spot. Drohan appears likely to return to the bullpen after his start against the Reds in tonight's series finale -- a decision prompted by the success that the rookie southpaw displayed as a reliever during the month of May. Meanwhile, Gasser is starting to find his groove after a shaky start to the 2026 campaign. In four starts during the month of June, Gasser has a 3.74 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate and a 6.7% walk rate. Take out his start at the hitters' paradise of Las Vegas Ballpark, during which Gasser allowed six earned runs in eight innings, and his June ERA falls to 1.53 while his season-long mark drops to 3.12.

Given his recent form, it's tough to take Gasser out of the rotation, but Henderson was pitching just as well when he unfortunately landed on the IL in late May. In five starts on the season, Henderson sports a 2.74 ERA with a ridiculous 33.3% strikeout rate and a solid 6.7% walk rate. An injury isn't something that takes away a starter of that caliber's rotation spot.

While the Brewers will have to figure out how to handle the Gasser vs. Henderson situation, one aspect of the rotation picture that looks more certain is that Crow will be on the outside looking in when he returns from the IL, assuming none of Milwaukee's other arms go down with injuries in the meantime. Despite impressing in each of his first three starts, and certainly proving that he's a major league-ready arm, Crow has less big-league experience than Henderson and Gasser, and will likely head to Triple-A upon his return from the injured list.

After more than a month of having to rely on their starting pitching depth, the Brewers could soon have all of their options back in the mix. With one eye on the present and another on the postseason, Milwaukee can be smart about how they use all of their rotation options to ensure they enter October with a fully healthy group of starters, which hasn't been the case in each of their last three postseason appearances.

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