Top of the mound
Woodruff has quickly evolved into Brewers’ ace
Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff discovered something Thursday afternoon that opposing pitchers have known for some time.
It's no fun facing Christian Yelich. During a situational intrasquad game at Miller Park as part of the team's summer camp, Woodruff faced Yelich not once but twice, and struck him out both times. The second at-bat, however, was a real battle, and also featured atmospheric pyrotechnics going on outside of the ballpark that gave it a Hollywood feel.
“It was the at-bat of the game for sure,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It ended up a strikeout, but it was a long at-bat. Woody made some great pitches and Yelich hit some great foul balls, which you don't say very often, but he did. He hit some great foul balls. He laid off some tough pitches.
“Then, the lightning struck (beyond) the outfield and you think of the movie (“The Natural”). For an intrasquad game on Day 2 of (game action), it was definitely the moment of the day.”
Woodruff, who went five simulated innings in an impressive earlycamp showing, said he saw Yelich in the weight room that morning and the two joked about facing each other later.
“'Yeli' said, ‘We get to battle today,'” Woodruff said. “I said, ‘I'll get to see where my stuff is real quick.'
“On the first one, I think I got a little help from the umpire on the strike three call. On the second one, I got a couple of fastballs by him, then he started fighting me off, so I was trying to bury a slider by him. You got to see what you see from the dugout (during
real games) in that he does not even budge at breaking stuff (out of the strike zone). He's such a good hitter.
“He's one of the best hitters on planet Earth right now. He's not just an average Joe. He sees breaking pitches like that out of the hand pretty well, so that let me know it was something I could definitely work on. I haven't faced him since 2017 when he was with the Marlins and I was first called up (from the minors). He's a good hitter – maybe the best hitter in the game – so it was good to get some feedback from him.”
Yelich and Woodruff both have come a long way since those confrontations in '17. Yelich was National League MVP in 2018 and runner-up the next season, and Woodruff quickly has emerged as the Brewers' pitching ace.
Though Counsell is not ready to make the assignment official yet, he has Woodruff lined up to pitch the season opener July 24 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Opening-day assignments have been something of a jinx for Brewers pitchers in recent years but there's no denying Woodruff has earned the right to pitch atop the rotation.
“It's a pitcher who's just, he's developing, right?” Counsell said. “He's getting a little bit better every time we see him. It's been a very even progression to me. It's been the way it's supposed to happen, the way you want it to happen. I think we all want development to go really fast but Woody's just taken a nice, logical path, clean path, to getting better.
“Now, we're getting to a pretty good place, and I actually think he's in a place where he wants more. I think he still thinks he's got a ways to go and can get to a much better place. I think he's in a great place, still thinking ‘I have room to grow and going to get better. This is going to happen.' It's a good scenario for us, for sure.”
Woodruff, 27, an 11th round draft pick in 2014 out of Mississippi State, struggled to avoid big innings in his early starts last season but eventually kicked it into a higher gear and started dealing. He went 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA in May, with 37 strikeouts in 33 innings, and was 10-3 with a 3.67 ERA in the first half, earning his first all-star nod as a replacement for injured teammate Josh Hader.
The man known as both “Woody” and “Big Woo” by teammates injured his left oblique in a July 21 start in Arizona and missed nearly two months before rejoining the Brewers in the final weeks. He started the wild-card game in Washington, pitching four strong innings (two hits, one run) in what became a heartbreaking late-inning loss to the Nationals.
As evident by his intrasquad outing Thursday, Woodruff worked hard during the game's three-month shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. He probably will get only 10 or 11 starts during the shortened 60-game season but is ready to give it everything he has when the bell finally rings.
“I pitch with my fastball a lot; that's no secret,” Woodruff said. “The biggest takeaway from spring (camp) for me was that I had everything pretty much locked in as far as the way I wanted to sequence my pitches. I just want to be more consistent because at this level, that's what it's all about. You have to be able to make everything look the same coming out of the hand.
“I feel like I've always been a little bit of a slow starter. I go back to last year when I got off (to a slow start) that first month. Obviously, with only 60 games, it's going to be more of a sprint this year. I think I've done a good job of preparing myself to be ready to hit the ground running, once the games start.
“You can't really look at it (as only 10 starts). You have to prepare yourself for whenever you pitch, for whenever you throw that first pitch and go from there. You have to worry about each and every single pitch you throw. I think if you can stay focused on that, everything will fall right into place.”
Woodruff already is renown in the Brewers organization for his drive and competitive nature. But he can't help but having his attention divided somewhat because he and wife Jonie are expecting their first child during the season, with a due date of Sept. 4.
“You get three days (on paternity leave), so I'll travel back (to Mississippi), be there for the birth, and have to turn right back and travel here,” Woodruff said. “That'll be the tough part. She's going to leave here the first of August and be gone for the month.
“She'll have the baby; I'll essentially be there for a day or two and, hopefully, we'll be in the playoffs and make a little run. She'll just have to bring the baby up. That's the plan.”
Woodruff throws his fastball in the high 90s (mph) and has a nasty breaking ball that bedevils hitters as well. But the pitch he struck out Yelich on during the “Roy Hobbs” at-bat was a changeup, a weapon that isn't fair for such a hard thrower to have in his holster.
“That's a pitch I really want to get nailed down,” he said. “It's been effective for me, but I want to make it a lot more effective. I made a couple of small tweaks with it and early on it's been showing up pretty good.
“I've always felt comfortable that I can throw it in any count. If I want to go out there and throw breaking pitches in a major league ball game, my mindset has to be that I can throw this pitch in any count, at any time. If I don't have that belief, I'm not going to have the conviction to go out there and execute those pitches. That's the way I think.”