Brandon Woodruff avoids IL stint and will start Brewers' 5th game of the season
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff will be ready to start the season on time, a welcome development for a Brewers rotation lacking experience. The Brewers announced Monday that the two-time All-Star right-hander would start their fifth game of the season, March 31 against the Tampa Bay Rays. Woodruff had spent spring training working his way back after missing the postseason with a lat strain, raising the possibility he might open the year with at least a brief stint on the injured list.
“I felt like personally I was in a good spot,” Woodruff said before the Brewers’ Monday night exhibition game with the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field. “I was recovering. My pitch count is probably obviously a little less than some of the guys coming out of camp, but I felt like I was recovering.
I felt like the stuff was there and coming along. I didn’t feel like I necessarily wanted to go pitch in minor league games, pretty much is the way I felt about it. ” Woodruff’s availability boosts a rotation that will open the season without Quinn Priester, who had a breakthrough season last year with a 13-3 record and 3.
32 ERA. Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, “I think you’ll see (Priester) in early May if all goes well” as the right-hander deals with a nerve issue. Priester had been dealing with an apparent wrist problem for much of the preseason and eventually received a diagnosis indicating it was at least partially related to thoracic outlet syndrome.
That leaves Milwaukee opening with a rotation that’s long on talent but short on veterans beyond the 33-year-old Woodruff, who is back with the Brewers after accepting their $22. 025 million qualifying offer during the offseason. Flame-throwing right-hander Jacob Misiorowski, who made 15 appearances as a rookie last season, will start the season opener Thursday against the Chicago White Sox.