Brandon Woodruff‘s 2026 season has come to an end, as the Brewers right-hander told CBS 58’s Darius Joseph and other reporters that he is undergoing a capsule surgery on his throwing shoulder. The recovery timeline should keep Woodruff out of action for at least part of the 2027 season as well, but the veteran said he isn’t planning to retire, as he “attack this rehab with the goal in mind of pitching again.”
It’s another tough setback for the 33-year-old, who has been one of the sport’s better pitchers over the last decade despite a number of injuries cropping up over the last four years. Woodruff also underwent a capsule surgery in October 2023 that cost him the entire 2024 season, and some ankle soreness and an elbow contusion twice interrupted his minor league rehab process in 2025, delaying his return start until July 6 of last year.
A lat strain then kept Woodruff from pitching during the Brewers’ postseason run, and the injury bug continued to surface into 2026. Woodruff hasn’t pitched since July 4 since he was on the second of two shoulder-related IL stints this season, both ostensibly due to discomfort being created by a cyst forming in his labrum area. Unfortunately, reports soon surfaced that this latest injury was more serious in nature, and the writing seemed to be on the wall about Woodruff’s season when he was moved to the 60-day injured list last Sunday.
Given this second capsule procedure, it is fair to wonder if we might’ve already seen the last pitch of Woodruff’s MLB career. One shouldn’t count out a pitcher who has already shown so much grit in coming back from multiple injuries, but if the rehab does indeed sideline Woodruff for all of 2027, he’ll be 35 years old on Opening Day 2028, with just 177 big league innings pitched over the 2023-2027 seasons. Since Woodruff posted a 2.80 ERA over those 177 frames, however, he still has something in the tank amidst all these health woes.
Woodruff accepted a one-year, $22.025MM qualifying offer from the Brewers last November, opting to return to his longtime team on another short-term pact in the wake of his shortened 2026 campaign. After Woodruff’s previous surgery, Milwaukee actually non-tendered Woodruff, only to re-sign him to a two-year, $17.5MM contract for the 2024-25 seasons. The righty received only $7.5MM in actual salary over the two seasons, plus a $10MM buyout of a $20MM mutual option for the 2026 season. Woodruff naturally declined his end of the mutual last fall, leading to the QO from the Brewers.
Another two-year deal might be in the offing when Woodruff hits free agency this winter, or perhaps earlier if the Brewers had interest in an extension. The deal would surely give Woodruff a small amount of guaranteed money in 2027, and the bulk of the salary coming in 2028 when he’d be expected to be ready to pitch. The Brewers’ payroll limitations add some risk in committing more money to a veteran with Woodruff’s injury history, but he has also been such a talented and popular figure in Milwaukee baseball history that another reunion between the two sides certainly seem feasible.
The more immediate short-term issue for the Brewers is how losing Woodruff impacts their pitching staff. Quinn Priester was also lost for 2026 due to thoracic outlet surgery, and Kyle Harrison is on the 15-day IL with what appears to be some minor forearm tightness, though there’s always some extra concern surrounding forearm-related injuries. Even if Harrison is able to return in pretty short order, that leaves the Brew Crew without a lot of rotation certainty beyond Harrison and ace Jacob Misiorowski. Logan Henderson and Shane Drohan have pitched well in limited action this season while Brandon Sproat and Robert Gasser have struggled, but all six of these starting options are lacking in MLB experience.
Bringing a veteran starter (or two) into the mix at the trade deadline would give the Brewers another option for a playoff rotation, and allow the team more flexibility in managing the innings of these younger pitchers in preparation for October. Milwaukee’s six-game lead in the NL Central allows some comfort in the knowledge that another playoff appearance is likely, but the Crew naturally want to take the next step and get to the World Series.
