Brewers Lose Brandon Woodruff to Labrum Injury Again, and the Rotation Just Got a Lot Thinner
The Milwaukee Brewers cannot catch a break with Brandon Woodruff. The two-time All-Star is heading back to the injured list with an inflamed labrum, the same injury that already cost him six weeks earlier this season.
Woodruff exited Saturday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the middle of the fourth inning at Chase Field. His fastball topped out at 93 mph in the first inning, then his velocity fell off a cliff. He was throwing 75 mph changeups by the time manager Pat Murphy pulled him. He left with three earned runs allowed on two hits and a walk. Milwaukee lost 4-3.
After the game, Murphy confirmed the diagnosis, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported the same on X. The labrum is inflamed again. The Brewers do not yet have a timetable for a return.
The frustrating part is how good Woodruff had been between IL stints. He was making his third start since being activated. The first two were spectacular. He gave up zero runs and only two hits across 11.2 innings against the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs. He even took a bid for a perfect game deep into his first start back against the Reds. Nothing about those two outings suggested his labrum was still an issue.
Then the velocity cratered in Phoenix, and everyone remembered why shoulder injuries are the scariest ones for pitchers. The labrum is not something you fix quickly. Inflammation flares up, subsides, and flares up again. The best case is rest and rehab knocks it down. The worst case involves surgery and 12 months of recovery.
The Brewers need Woodruff more than any healthy team should need any one pitcher. Milwaukee has assembled a rotation that could match up with anyone in the National League when it has all three of Woodruff, Jacob Misiorowski, and Kyle Harrison working together. Misiorowski just made the All-Star roster. Harrison has been better than expected since coming over. Woodruff is supposed to be the veteran anchor.
Without him, the Brewers are back to relying on depth arms that have not been tested for a full playoff push. Milwaukee sits in first place in the National League Central by a comfortable margin, so the immediate standings are not in danger. October is what is at stake here. A rotation of Misiorowski, Harrison, and a health question mark is very different from a rotation with a healthy Woodruff as the third piece.
The Brewers front office now has to weigh what to do at the deadline. Adding a starter suddenly moves way up the priority list. Rental arms like Freddy Peralta of the New York Mets, a former Milwaukee teammate, become worth calling on. Even a middle rotation add would give Milwaukee real insurance if Woodruff is not right in October.
For Woodruff personally, the second labrum flare in one season has to be alarming. He is 33 years old and pitching on a short deal. Repeated shoulder issues at that age do not usually resolve themselves without significant intervention. A conversation about long term risk may be quietly starting inside the Brewers medical staff.
Milwaukee has enough talent to keep winning the NL Central even without their ace. Winning in October is a different question, and it just got harder to answer.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
