Brandon Woodruff Provides Huge Update on His Pending Return to Brewers

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Dave Gasper | Last updated May 18, 2025 3:41 PM ET

The original date the Brewers had pegged for Brandon Woodruff's highly anticipated return to the mound came and went without a sighting of Big Woo. The sold out Saturday night crowd got their cribbage boards and saw a 7-0 loss.

That's because after last Sunday's rehab start in Triple-A Nashville, Woodruff came down with ankle tendinitis. He was returned from his rehab assignment and kept on the IL with that ankle issue. Woodruff and the Brewers felt it was minor.

The next step for Woodruff was to throw a bullpen on Sunday morning before the series finale against the Twins.

"It went well" Woodruff said.

It was a simple "up-down" bullpen with Woodruff simulating two innings, taking a short break in between. He threw his whole arsenal, fastballs, curveballs, changeups, and some cutters. The cutter is a new pitch he's been working on in his recovery.

He also then took a few reps of PFPs to test out his ankle and those all went well.

The next step for Woodruff is to head out to an affiliate for the start of a new rehab assignment. He expects to make a rehab start on Wednesday that'll last about 3-4 innings.

From there, they'll assess how he feels and then schedule his next rehab start. Woodruff expects to make at least two rehab outings on this next assignment with the possibility for a third.

That puts his return to the Brewers rotation at potentially the beginning of June, should everything continue to go well.

Getting Woodruff back in this rotation would be a huge boost to team morale as they're mired in a tough month of May. While he doesn't provide an offensive boost, there's value to be had in having Woodruff active and pitching every fifth day.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: