Brandon Woodruff

Brandon Woodruff

32-Year-Old PitcherSP
Milwaukee Brewers
15-Day IL
Injury Shoulder
Est. Return 4/20/2025
2025 Fantasy Outlook
The right-hander was released by the Brewers in November of 2023 but eventually re-signed on a two-year deal as he sat out 2024 while recovering from shoulder surgery. Woodruff spent most of 2023 on the shelf but was electric when available with a 2.28 ERA and 0.82 WHIP in 11 starts. That production wasn't exactly out of the ordinary, as he had a 3.02 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 10.8 K/9 in 92 starts over the previous four seasons. The question now is whether he can recapture that form after missing a full season, and there's also the possibility he faces some workload limitations given his limited innings over the past two years. There is tons of upside given his track record and Milwaukee's penchant for getting the most out of its pitchers, but there's still some risk with Woodruff coming off the injury. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#247
ADP
$Signed a two-year, $7.5 million contract with the Brewers in February of 2024. Contract includes mutual $20 million option ($10 million buyout) for 2026.
Placed on 15-day injured list
PMilwaukee Brewers
Shoulder
March 27, 2025
The Brewers placed Woodruff (shoulder) on the 15-day injured list Thursday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
Woodruff's progression from shoulder surgery has gone well lately, as he saw some game action in spring training and could be ready for a rehab assignment in the not-too-distant future. The Brewers haven't provided a timetable for when the right-hander will be ready to return from the IL for his 2025 debut.
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Pitching Stats
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Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2023
 
 
-12%
BAA vs RHP
2025
No Stats
2024
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2023
 
 
-12%
BAA vs RHP
BAA Batters K BB H 2B 3B HR
Since 2023vs Left .182 133 41 11 22 4 0 5
Since 2023vs Right .161 120 33 4 18 4 0 4
2025vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2025vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023vs Left .182 133 41 11 22 4 0 5
2023vs Right .161 120 33 4 18 4 0 4
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Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2023
 
 
-65%
ERA at Home
2025
No Stats
2024
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2023
 
 
-65%
ERA at Home
ERA WHIP IP W L SV K/9 BB/9 HR/9
Since 2023Home 1.15 0.83 31.1 3 1 0 10.6 1.7 1.1
Since 2023Away 3.28 0.81 35.2 2 0 0 9.3 2.3 1.3
2025Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2025Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023Home 1.15 0.83 31.1 3 1 0 10.6 1.7 1.1
2023Away 3.28 0.81 35.2 2 0 0 9.3 2.3 1.3
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Brandon Woodruff See More
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Woodruff's shoulder was the story of his 2023 season and he will likely miss the entirety of 2024 after undergoing surgery to repair the anterior capsule in his right shoulder in October. He was placed on the injured list after just two starts last season and didn't pitch again until August. While there was some hope initially that the two-time All-Star could return by the end of June, the Brewers slowed down his rehab, as he wasn't recovering from his bullpens as well as the team hoped. That news proved ominous, but the Brewers still decided to bring Woodruff back on a two-year deal, with an eye toward 2025.
Woodruff put up a second consecutive season of ace level performance, but left us wanting more as fantasy managers. Woodruff had the 8th-best K-BB%, 4th best strikeout rate and 20th best WHIP amongst starting pitchers with at least 150 innings of work in 2022. Yet, he finished outside the top 20 in both ERA and wins and missed time in the summer after being diagnosed with Raynaud's syndrome, a circulatory condition which causes numbness in the extremities due to reduced blood flow. That particular issue caused him to have trouble with his grip on his breaking pitches which led to a near 50-point jump in the league-wide batting average against his spinners. It is also worth noting that Woodruff has just once pitched more than 160 innings in a season or made 30 starts over the past three full seasons. The metrics and StatCast data scream ace, but the outcomes leave us wanting a bit more.
The kids will tell us IYKYK, and if you had Woodruff on your team last season, you know where this is going. Milwaukee won 16 of the 30 games Woodruff started, yet Woodruff won just nine games because he had the absolute worst run support in the National League with just 2.5 runs scored when he was pitching. Two-thirds of his starts were quality starts, yet fewer than one-third of them became wins. That is just rotten luck for a pitcher who went into the Milwaukee pitching laboratory and has turned himself into one of the better pitchers in the game. He now has three consecutive seasons of impressive three-category production with the wins being at the mercy of the offense. Hopefully the Brew Crew will supply Woodruff with more run support to turn him into the ace pitcher he is shaping out to be. If they do, perhaps the Cy Young Award can even stay in Milwaukee, because Woodruff has all the tools to make it happen.
If not for an injury that cost him extended time in 2019 Woodruff could have found himself in the mix for the Cy Young award. Well, he was even better in 2020, increasing his strikeout rate and allowing fewer than one baserunner per inning. He still leaned heavily on his upper-90s fastball, but he threw a lower percentage of sliders for the third year in a row and threw more curveballs and changeups than ever. That pitch mix is tough for hitters to deal with, particularly when Woodruff isn't walking them. Woodruff keeps getting better and better, and he is in his prime heading into his age-28 season. Woodruff's lone issue last season was length, as he averaged fewer than six innings per start. If he can be a little more efficient with his pitch counts in 2021, he figures to be just as good -- or better -- than he was a season ago.
Marlon Brando "coulda been a contender," and Woodruff could have, too. Not in a boxing match, of course, but for last year's NL Cy Young Award. Had Woodruff not missed two months with an oblique injury he had a real shot to finish top-10 in the NL in all of W, K and WAR in his first season as a full-time starter. Woodruff returned to action in September and picked up right where he left off. There's reason to believe he could be even better, as he made a notable improvement in the K:BB department last season and finished with a 3.01 FIP. Woodruff has found success as a starter thanks to a pitch mix that features a four-seamer and sinker that both sit in the mid-90s, a hard slider and a changeup that fools hitters looking for the power pitches. Woodruff has the offerings, numbers and underlying stats all in his favor and has all the makings of a No. 1 starter.
After a mostly nondescript regular season, Woodruff cranked things up in September and into the playoffs. He worked in relief, which allowed him to maximize his pitches and show dominant stuff. An 11th-round pick in 2014, he posted a healthy 26.7 K% in 42.1 regular-season innings. He paired that with average control (8.0 BB%) and an above-average 53.1% groundball rate. The combination of strikeouts and groundballs is quite appealing, although it remains to be seen if the improved stuff will survive the transition back to the rotation. Woodruff was not all that effective as a starter in 2017, posting just a 9.8 K-BB% over eight starts. While the Brewers may go into the season with Woodruff technically in the rotation, they have embraced the idea of blurring the lines between starters and relievers, so he likely wouldn't log many six- or seven-inning outings. That usage should greatly benefit his ratios at the expensive of wins and strikeouts.
Woodruff got a shot at the Triple-A level last season after being named the Brewers' minor league pitcher of the year in 2016, and while his numbers were not pretty -- most aren't in the PCL -- he was effective and consistent enough to earn his first trip to the majors. He allowed just four earned runs in four starts out of the gate, but he crumbled after that, allowing 19 earned runs over his final four big-league starts. Still, his showing was good enough overall to put him in the conversation for a back-end spot in the Brewers' rotation to begin 2018. Woodruff throws a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and also a quality slider and average changeup, and though he averaged less than a strikeout per inning in 2017, he has shown improvement in that area the last two years. Woodruff is unlikely to be much of a factor early in shallow leagues, but if he earns a rotation spot in spring training, he possesses enough upside to be selected in the late rounds for deeper formats.
Woodruff may have been just an 11th-round pick in 2014, but he hasn't let falling in the draft stop him from cruising through the lower levels of the minor leagues. After dominating High-A with Brevard County through eight starts (1.83 ERA, 10.0 K/9), the 23-year-old earned a promotion to Double-A Biloxi. He finished on absolute fire, having allowed just one run over 22 innings in his final three starts to end the season with a 3.01 ERA. Even after advancing to Double-A, Woodruff continued to strike out over a batter per inning and maintained a K/BB above 4.0. Now over a year removed from a nasty oblique injury, Woodruff is looking like he could make his way into Milwaukee's rotation sooner than expected.
More Fantasy News
Builds up to two innings
PMilwaukee Brewers
Shoulder
March 21, 2025
Woodruff (shoulder) threw two innings in a minor-league spring game Friday, Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
ANALYSIS
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Cactus League debut scheduled
PMilwaukee Brewers
Shoulder
March 11, 2025
Woodruff (shoulder) will pitch in Sunday's Cactus League game against the Guardians, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Minor-league game on tap next week
PMilwaukee Brewers
Shoulder
March 7, 2025
Woodruff (shoulder) is tentatively scheduled to pitch in a minor-league game Tuesday, Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
ANALYSIS
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Getting stretched out in live BP
PMilwaukee Brewers
Shoulder
February 28, 2025
Woodruff (shoulder) expects to pitch multiple "innings" during his next live batting practice session, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.
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Throws third sim game
PMilwaukee Brewers
Shoulder
February 27, 2025
Woodruff (shoulder) threw a simulated game consisting of about 30 pitches Thursday, Sophia Minnaert of FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin reports.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Connected to Mets
PFree Agent
January 5, 2024
Woodruff, who is recovering from right shoulder surgery, has drawn interest from the Mets, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.
ANALYSIS
Woodruff won't pitch until late in the 2024 season, if at all, following surgery in October to repair the anterior capsule in his shoulder. However, he's received plenty of interest from clubs willing to wait out his rehab in hopes that he can be a frontline starter again in 2025. New Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, of course, helmed the Brewers' front office during most of Woodruff's tenure in Milwaukee.
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