Woodruff won't need shoulder surgery, holds out faint hope for '26 return

MILWAUKEE – Amid the Brewers’ list of medical updates released this past Tuesday, the news for Brandon Woodruff remained the same as it had been for a month. The veteran right-hander, who has been sidelined since July 4 with right shoulder inflammation, was still scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery this month.

The recency of that update made Saturday’s news all the more surprising.

Woodruff, while speaking with Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, confirmed that he will no longer need surgery to repair the capsule in his right shoulder due to the surprising amount of healing that was revealed in his four-week scan. Suddenly, plans for going under the knife were scrapped in exchange for a five-week throwing progression starting Wednesday.

Just a month ago, the question was whether the 33-year-old and longest-tenured Brewer would ever be able to pitch again. Now, it’s whether he might be able to make a 2026 return that nobody could’ve seen coming.

“I think there's a low possibility, but I think there's a possibility,” manager Pat Murphy said, confirming the news. “And why not go with it? With the injuries we've had and the youth that we have and some of the other things that haven't bounced our way, wouldn't this be nice to have some real positive news? Because everybody would want Woody on the mound.”

Murphy made sure to caveat that such a return is not something he’s going to get too excited about just yet. While the news itself is an extremely welcome update, the work needing to be done just to make a 2026 return possible will go a long way in determining the feasibility of that outcome.

“We also have to think of the reality of it,” Murphy said. “Now he has to pick up the ball. Now it's the progression back. How quickly? How much risk is there in that? But we'll do anything we can to have Woody [as] a possibility for any of this season.”

Woodruff’s update was something those with the Brewers had caught wind of a few days ago. But they were nervous to accept it as realistic, considering how difficult the road has been for the veteran over the past few seasons.

The originally planned August surgery was going to be another repair of the same shoulder capsule Woodruff had a procedure on in October 2023, from which recovery lasted about 20 months. Though he looked sharp when finally getting back on the bump in 2025 – posting a 3.20 ERA over 12 starts – a right lat strain brought that campaign to a halt in September.

Woodruff dealt with shoulder inflammation again in May and logged a combined nine starts with a 2.98 ERA by July, but then came the news that more surgery was needed.

At the time, Woodruff had to fend off suggestions that this might be the procedure that brought an unfortunate conclusion to his nine-year career. Now, his manager is discussing the potential of him returning to the mound weeks later.

“I think it'd be a shame to have his career over when he's got a lot of good pitching left,” Murphy said. “I think he's just getting to that point in his career where he really understands pitching, and he doesn't need the 98 [mph] anymore to be a winning pitcher, as he's proven with us this year.”

While faint hope remains that Woodruff can get back to proving that for Milwaukee this season – a scenario that seemed wildly far-fetched just a month ago – it was clear his avoiding another procedure was the most important development from the day in Milwaukee. Just one month after being forced to discuss the finality of his career, Woodruff can exchange rehab plans for hopes of suiting up for Milwaukee and a return to the mound, a possibility that’s suddenly much closer on the horizon.

“It's not for sure that he's going to come back and everything's going to be easy,” Murphy said. “But I think it does his mind good that, ‘I don't need the surgery. I'm going to give it a try.’

“Everybody likes hearing that. You thought you need a procedure, you thought you needed to do something, and you find out, ‘You know what? I can live normal again.’ So I’m excited for him.”