Brandon Woodruff Out For Wild Card Series With Shoulder Injury

Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff has a right shoulder injury, which will keep him from playing in the upcoming NL Wild Card Series, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Whether or not he can pitch later in the postseason, should the Brewers advance, remains to be seen.

The All-Star right-hander spent four months of the 2023 campaign on the injured list with a subscapular strain in his right shoulder. However, he returned in early August and looked healthy down the stretch, pitching to a 2.59 ERA in nine starts while averaging more than six innings per game. His shoulder bothered him during his final outing of the regular season, but initially, he responded well to treatment. Thus, the severity of his injury came as a surprise for the Brewers; the team was counting on him to start game two of the Wild Card series against the Diamondbacks.

Woodruff plans to get a second opinion on his shoulder, but the team isn’t expecting an update until the end of the week. While they will hope for the best, Counsell and his staff will have to prepare for the worst-case scenario, in which their number two starter is out for the rest of the playoffs.

The Brewers have not yet announced who will start on Wednesday in Woodruff’s place, although Freddy Peralta seems to be the most likely candidate. The 27-year-old pitched his first qualifying season this year, making 30 starts with a 3.86 ERA. It’s harder to guess who will start for Milwaukee in a potential game three. Wade Miley and Adrian Houser are presumably the leading candidates; each had a solid year in 2023, and each is coming off a strong September. Miley pitched to a 3.04 ERA in his final five games, while Houser put up a 2.14 ERA in four September starts. The elder Miley probably has the edge, thanks to his veteran experience and his lefty arm, but Counsell will surely take his time thinking about individual matchups before he makes a decision.

While the Brewers have rotation depth to call upon, this still comes as a huge blow to their postseason hopes. At full strength, Woodruff is one of the better starting pitchers in the National League, and this team was counting on a powerful one-two punch of Corbin Burnes and Woodruff to lead them over the Diamondbacks. No one was more upset about the news than Woodruff himself, who choked up as he told reporters, “We’ve got a good clubhouse. And I want to be a part of that. Sitting here now, I may not.”