Thus far in 2019, he has thrown 117 2/3 innings of 3.75 ERA ball with a strong combination of 10.4 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9.Prior to landing on the IL, Woodruff had been the Brewers’ most valuable starter. Brandon Woodruff is his pick to pitch on Opening Day. 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. He looked like a potential cornerstone for the pitching staff.Realistically, there won’t be an October for the sinking Brew Crew, but it would still be nice from the team’s perspective to see Woodruff finish this season healthy. The 26-year-old held his own in 117 2/3 innings before his IL placement, posting a 3.75 ERA (with a far better 3.09 FIP) and 10.4 K/9 against 2.22 BB/9.
Then left-hander Brett Anderson would start Game 2 for the Brewers opposite righty Yu Darvish, provided Anderson isn’t set back by the blister that cut short his Wednesday intrasquad outing.“It’s important that [Woodruff] is a Brewer and we developed him and he’s gone through this,” Counsell said. Woodruff’s average opponents’ exit velocity was in the 93rd percentile among big league hurlers at just 85.7 mph, and only five percent of MLB starters limited opponents in terms of barreled-ball rate.The 25-year-old Burnes could be something of a wild card as camp progresses. He was sidelined for two months from mid-July to early September by an oblique injury, but returned to be named the Brewers’ starter for the NL Wild Card Game against the Nationals.Woodruff’s breakthrough came during the second half of 2018, when he made a mark out of the bullpen, including a memorable performance in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series in which he homered off Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.Before that, the Brewers’ best homegrown starting pitcher was Ben Sheets, who made a club-record six Opening Day starts between 2002 and ’08.Now the Brewers are back, though no one could have predicted the circumstances. Important Dates and Info. But those are just the cards we’ve been dealt this year, and we’re going to deal with it and get out there and play some baseball. Not only that, they’re just four games back of the Cardinals for the NL Central lead and have a three-game series in St. Louis set to begin tomorrow. Brandon Woodruff is his pick to pitch on Opening Day. With ample cheap control remaining, Woodruff is a major piece of the near-future puzzle in Milwaukee. With a tight postseason race coming down to the wire, Counsell will need to extract as much value as possible from Woodruff while also ensuring he doesn’t push the valuable young pitcher too far too fast.Fielding-independent metrics and Statcast both loved Woodruff’s work on the mound as well. He made 30 total relief appearances, allowing just 27 hits (four homers); of his 11 walks, two were of the intentional variety. • How will Crew's roster look on Opening Day? Woodruff has unquestionably been the Brewers’ most effective starter this year, and the fact that they’ve gone without him for several weeks has helped take a sledgehammer to their playoff chances.The latest from baseball’s Central divisions…As twenty teams prepare to pack it in for the offseason, a few odds and ends concerning those still remaining in the battle for a World Series crown… and thinking, ‘Man, my world has changed.' I realized really quick that you have to put in a lot of hard work, and it’s going to take a lot of dedication to get to the big leagues.”Woodruff, the 27-year-old right-hander who has risen from 11th-round Draft pick in 2014 to Brewers Minor League Pitcher of the Year in '16 to National League All-Star in '19, is slotted to pitch the '20 opener against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on July 24.An 11th-round Draft pick rising to staff ace certainly qualifies.“My goal is to make as many as I can,” Woodruff said. MILWAUKEE -- Brewers manager Craig Counsell doesn’t believe in curses. The last five men to take the ball for Milwaukee in a regular-season opener all endured seasons ranging from barely average to downright dismal, from Kyle Lohse to Wily Peralta to Junior Guerra to Chase Anderson to Jhoulys Chacin. Brandon Woodruff #53, MLB stats and betting trends for (2020) season including profile, career stats, score, moneyline records, goals and more.