{"id":615915,"date":"2026-04-30T20:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/615915\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T20:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T20:26:07","slug":"brandon-woodruff-removed-from-start-after-velocity-dip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/615915\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Woodruff Removed From Start After Velocity Dip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff<\/a> was removed from today\u2019s game in the second inning with his velocity notably lower than usual. It quickly became obvious that something was off, as he started the game with his velocity way down. His fastballs were averaging around 85 miles per hour today, whereas he had been around 93 mph in his previous outings this year.<\/p>\n

At this point, it\u2019s unclear what the problem is, as Woodruff evidently wasn\u2019t experiencing any pain. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t himself,\u201d manager Pat Murphy said in a mid-game interview on the TV broadcast, relayed by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/a>. \u201cHe felt like, felt kind of dead. He said he didn\u2019t feel any pain, just nothing was coming out. We\u2019ve seen a little bit of this, but never at this level, where he can\u2019t get the ball over 85 mph. He\u2019s so important to us. We\u2019re not going to risk anything, maybe long-term by having him to try to step on it. He\u2019s going through this process and hopefully will be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 7 mph drop in velocity would be worrisome for any pitcher. The concern is heightened since this relates to Woodruff, given his recent history. Shoulder problems limited him to just 11 starts in 2023. He eventually required surgery, which wiped out his entire 2024 campaign. He was able to return to the mound in the summer of 2025 and made 12 good starts, but finished the season on the injured list with a lat strain.<\/p>\n

The Brewers felt good enough about Woodruff\u2019s health to make him a $22.025MM qualifying offer, a notable gesture for a club that rarely pays players at that level. Woodruff took some time to explore his opportunities but eventually accepted the QO and returned to Milwaukee for 2026.<\/p>\n

Coming into this year, he was ramped up in measured fashion and it wasn\u2019t clear if he would be built up in time for the Opening Day roster, but he did eventually break camp with the Brewers. Through his first five starts, he had a solid 3.77 earned run average, though with some yellow flags. His 20% strikeout rate was a big drop from last year\u2019s 32.3% clip. He seemed to benefit from a .235 batting average on balls in play. ERA estimators like his 4.06 FIP and his 4.27 SIERA felt he was lucky to have his ERA under 4.00.<\/p>\n

Presumably, Woodruff is slated for some testing, with more information to be revealed in the coming days and weeks. If Woodruff needs to spend some time on the injured list, that would be a blow to the Milwaukee rotation. He is capable of ace-level production when at his best, with a 3.13 ERA and 28.8% strikeout rate in his career. But due to the shoulder issues, he hasn\u2019t made more than 12 starts in a season since 2022.<\/p>\n

The rest of the Milwaukee rotation is currently manned by Jacob Misiorowski<\/a>, Kyle Harrison<\/a>, Chad Patrick<\/a> and Brandon Sproat<\/a>. Someone would have to step up to replace Woodruff if he needs to miss some time. DL Hall<\/a>, Shane Drohan<\/a> and Jake Woodford<\/a> have been working multiple innings out of the bullpen of late and could perhaps step up with a spot start or working as a bulk guy in a bullpen game.<\/p>\n

They also have guys in the minors they could pull from. Logan Henderson<\/a>, Coleman Crow<\/a>, Robert Gasser<\/a> and Carlos Rodriguez<\/a> are all on optional assignment in Triple-A. Any one of them could be an option to make a spot start or perhaps get a few turns in the rotation, depending on how Woodruff\u2019s situation eventually pans out.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff was removed from today\u2019s game in the second inning with his velocity notably lower…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103035,99],"class_list":["post-615915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-brandon-woodruff","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}