Why rehabbing Woodruff, other Brewers won't travel with Crew to Denver

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MILWAUKEE – Brandon Woodruff made a fairly significant mechanical adjustment for his 42-pitch live batting practice session on Wednesday, lowering his arm slot in an effort to correct the slow creep of bad habits he says has accompanied his comeback from right shoulder surgery.

Woodruff made Milwaukee’s Opening Day roster but has been sidelined since experiencing a dramatic drop in velocity and a feeling of “dead arm” in an April 30 start against the D-backs. He had a minor procedure to address a cyst in his shoulder joint and was on his way back to start against the Cardinals at American Family Field on May 27, but pulled the plug on that plan because he didn’t feel right.

Now he has an idea of what was going on there, and he’s working to fix it.

“Ever since surgery, my release point has been getting higher, and I’ve been pinching my [shoulder] off,” Woodruff said. “I think it’s just a byproduct of having the surgery and finding a comfortable way to throw, and I got stuck in those patterns. I had an adjustment just two days ago, and [Wednesday] was the first time throwing with it.

“I’m trying to get my release where I was pre-surgery, in that low three-quarters slot. I can get real nerdy here, but if you break down the biomechanics, if you get in a more comfortable spot [lower], it gives more freedom for the shoulder to do its thing. That’s the idea.”

He bounced back well on Thursday and liked the Trackman data he saw from Wednesday’s simulated outing against hitters Brandon Lockridge and Blake Perkins. Woodruff’s release point was up, along with his extension – two good signs that the mechanical fix was in place.

He’s scheduled to divert to Arizona next with a group of other players who won’t be traveling with the team to its next stop at Colorado. They include starters Kyle Harrison and Robert Gasser, since they are not scheduled to pitch in the Rockies series, along with rehabbing outfielder Lockridge and pitching coach Juan Sandoval, who will keep Woodruff, Harrison and Gasser on track while they avoid the effects of Denver’s altitude.

“Teams do that all the time. I know the Dodgers do that,” Woodruff said. “If they’ve got guys who are not pitching in Colorado, they stay back. It makes a difference.”

Woodruff might even throw in Arizona Complex League games, which have Spring Training-type rules allowing pitchers to exit and re-enter to control pitch counts. The Brewers already sent right-hander Quinn Priester there to search for answers in his long comeback from thoracic outlet syndrome, and Priester was able to pitch into the fourth inning in his Arizona debut this week.

Woodruff is confident he’ll be back in the Brewers’ rotation to log multiple starts before the All-Star break.

“My big thing is, I don’t want to go five starts and have something come up again,” Woodruff said. “I’m trying to give myself a chance to finish out the year. I don’t want to go back on the IL. I’m sick of that [stuff].”