When the Milwaukee Brewers extended a $22.05MM qualifying offer to Brandon Woodruff last offseason, many thought it was a miscalculation by the club to do so once Woodruff accepted the offer. The Brewers, however, thought otherwise and were thrilled to have Woodruff back. They knew what kind of value he would bring to the 2026 club even with his injury history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to have him back, I mean he\u2019s one of the best people \u2014 and not just best people but one of the best pitchers in big games I\u2019ve ever seen, so to have that guy back is really exciting.\u201d Brewers PBO Matt Arnold said at the Winter Meetings last year.<\/p>\n
The Brewers knew they\u2019d be coming into 2026 with a very young crop of starting pitchers, almost all of whom with less than a full year of MLB service time. To get those pitchers to navigate a tough division, navigate their first full years in the majors, and maintain the level of on-field success the Brewers were expecting, it would take the right veteran, the right person, to lead them. Brandon Woodruff was the clear choice to do it.<\/p>\n
But how? What does Woodruff\u2019s leadership for this young group look like?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s out there, watching our bullpens every day, giving us tips and tricks and just little tidbits, you can talk to him during the game. Little learning points so it\u2019s definitely cool to have a guy with that much experience. It\u2019s really cool for a young staff like us.\u201d added Kyle Harrison.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the start (of my career) he kind of was like the one that described to be what big league life looked like and how to go about it\u2026 So he\u2019s a huge help just with anything, you have a question, you go to Woo and you ask him anything and he\u2019ll be there to talk you through it.\u201d Jacob Misiorowski said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just talk about life, learning experiences from when he played and just spent a really good mentor of the game to me and just showing me the ropes of how things are done in the locker room on the field and how to be a good teammate.\u201d said Chad Patrick.<\/p>\n
Woodruff\u2019s role this season has certainly changed from what\u2019s previously been expected of him. For years, he was a steady workhorse that was expected to lead the rotation as a true No. 1 on the field. He was relied upon to pitch deep into games, match up against the best pitcher the other team has to offer, and provide a power arsenal while doing it.<\/p>\n
After his shoulder surgery at the end of 2023, the road to health has been long and winding. The power arsenal with the \u201cangry fastball\u201d he once had isn\u2019t likely to come back. He\u2019s made 18 total big league starts since that surgery. The outside expectations for him have changed. Woodruff\u2019s expectations for himself have not, but he\u2019s also able to see the bigger picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in a role where I still feel like a number one, but also I\u2019m trying to just fill in behind these guys and watch them do their work. Because it\u2019s fun to see, that\u2019s fun for me to watch them do what they do because I learn from them, too.\u201d Woodruff said.<\/p>\n
The Brewers have a great track record of developing pitching over the past decade or so. Woodruff himself was one of those early success stories that paved the way for the reputation the Brewers now have. Pitching coach Chris Hook has received a lot of credit for that reputation as well and rightly so. But sometimes players need to hear something not from their coach, but a fellow player. That\u2019s where Woodruff also provides a wealth of knowledge to help these young starters.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Woodruff\u2019s) someone you could bounce ideas off like, \u2018Hooky told me this and Woody, what do you think?\u2019 Man, just stuff like that, it\u2019s like he\u2019s always looking out for you.\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n
Pitching coach Chris Hook said, \u201cI think when you\u2019re inside the clubhouse, there\u2019s a chance for a deeper connection. People are a little bit more open and the conversation is probably a little bit more free-flowing\u2026 And I think we\u2019re fortunate enough to have a guy like him with a lot of experience, be able to share and want to share, I think that\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what kind of knowledge Woodruff like to share with the young starters the most? Reading swings and sequencing are the key points he focuses on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing is sequences, trying to look at guys swings and situations, and I think that\u2019s where I can be of some value for some of these younger guys. Because the more innings you throw, the more you start putting yourselves in these situations. And to be honest, they haven\u2019t thrown that many innings, but obviously we\u2019ve seen in the Cubs series what the capabilities are, and they\u2019re really good man. I mean, everybody\u2019s in the upper 90s now, and once they learn how to pitch and sequence a little bit, and they get down to execution, then it becomes real fun for them.\u201d Woodruff said.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s also plenty of other facets of pitching where Woodruff is making his mark on this next generation of Brewers starting pitchers. Some of it can be mindset related, some may be tweaking pitch grips, or providing other cues. Some may just simply be little moments where Woodruff makes a suggestion and is able to get something to click for them.<\/p>\n
Misiorowski said, \u201cI was throwing a bullpen and Woo had me try a different grip on a pitch, and I remember I tried it and I think it was my changeup and I was kind of playing with it and he had me switch, slide my fingers over a little bit and it jumped it up like five more inches of horizontal (break) and it was like \u2018oh, wow, that really works.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Detroit I had him watch my throwing program one time, and he was just giving me some advice on how to get in front of the curveball, things like that\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one outing was like a bunch of heaters, bunch of heaters and next time around, I\u2019ll start pulling out the change up, started pulling out the curveball to land it just for a strike\u201d Harrison added.<\/p>\n
Hook tells a story about a time that Woodruff was speaking to a group of young Brewers pitchers in spring training and giving advice about working out of jams<\/p>\n
\u201c(Woodruff) goes, \u2018listen, we don\u2019t go in to starts or outings thinking that its going to go perfect, always know that there are going to be jams that are going to happen and almost be ready for them\u2019 and the way he says it and the way he explains it is so different.\u201d Hook said. \u201cOh, here\u2019s that here\u2019s that opportunity. I have to get out of jam and \u2018hey, listen, you\u2019re going to get at least three opportunities to work out of jams\u2019\u2026it was just like it\u2019s a really good way to put it, it\u2019s like I\u2019ve got three opportunities today to work out of a jam. I\u2019m probably not going to get to four. When that first one comes like, oh, here\u2019s the first out of three, and then I can work out of it. And again, it calms you and it just like the expectation of it happening kind of alleviates that anxiousness. So I always thought that was a little bit of wisdom that I thought was really, really good. \u201d<\/p>\n
The Brewers have the 3rd-best starter\u2019s ERA in MLB this season. The starting pitching has been a critical factor in the organization\u2019s success over the last decade. Brandon Woodruff was part of that first wave back in 2017 and 2018. Now the next wave is here and Woodruff is still here with it as well. He\u2019s been on the shelf since late April with a shoulder injury. So even though he hasn\u2019t been out there on the field contributing to the team\u2019s success, he\u2019s still clearly contributing in other ways, shaping this next generation of Brewers starters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s on the Mount Rushmore of Brewers pitching. These guys might be too young to know that, but maybe when they\u2019re done, they\u2019ll realize how special he was when he decides to leave Milwaukee\u201d Hook said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Milwaukee Brewers extended a $22.05MM qualifying offer to Brandon Woodruff last offseason, many thought it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[292994,34976,363,99],"class_list":["post-687862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-milwaukee-brewers-analysis","tag-milwaukee-brewers-news","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687862","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=687862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}