Brewers aces build brotherhood in Milwaukee

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PHOENIX -- “I don’t know if you want us to say we don’t like each other? That’s not it,” said Brandon Woodruff, standing beside Corbin Burnes as they break into laughter during Spring Training.

There’s no reading between the lines of this longtime relationship; Burnes and Woodruff do like each other, and they respect each other even more. The Brewers’ co-aces have been together since Triple-A Colorado Springs in 2017, the year Woodruff broke into the big leagues as a Brewers reliever, followed by Burnes a year later. Since then, they’ve both started Opening Day, both won the club’s annual pitcher of the year award, both started Game 1 of a postseason series and both made multiple All-Star teams.

They’ve also both finished in the Top 5 of NL Cy Young Award balloting, but only Burnes won the honor (in 2021). For some duos, that might be enough of a wedge to start a rivalry. Not this duo.

“They're great because they're really competitive. And that competitiveness, with a guy next to you, it helps. It pushes you to new places,” Brewers manager *Craig Counsell *said. “But I've been around people who are definitely more motivated by other people around them; that’s not really Brandon and Corbin's thing, you know? Not compared to a couple duos that I've been around.”

It should come as no shock at all that when Burnes was asked what he’s grown to respect most about Woodruff, it starts with Woodruff’s process between starts. Process is paramount to Burnes, who remade every part of his game between his struggles in the middle of 2019 to his re-emergence in 2020 as an ace, including a new level of mental focus about everything that leads to the moment he steps on a mound.

“What you want from guys on your team is knowing they put the work in, so when they go out there, they’re giving their best effort to help the team win,” Burnes said. “Woody does that. Freddy [Peralta] does that. All the guys we’ve had together for a long time, we have that trust to know that between starts, we’re going to get our work done.”

Watching Burnes work over the years, Woodruff has picked up some things for his own process.

“I’ve asked Corbin about his routine, his in-between pitch stuff, how to lock back in, how to essentially reset yourself to focus on the next pitch,” Woodruff said. “The in-between starts stuff, that’s the time to really sit down and watch each other.”

They learn as much from the dominant outings – Burnes’ combined no-hitter in Cleveland stands out, or Woodruff’s 10-strikeout, eight-inning scoreless gem in St. Louis when the Brewers were hunting a postseason berth in 2020 – as from the clunkers. When Burnes is dissatisfied with a start, Woodruff has noticed that he buries his head in his notebook. Burnes meticulously grades his execution percentage from each game in that notebook and jots down ideas for the next time he faces a team.

Every time Woodruff sees Burnes really attuned to those pages, “you know he’s going to punch out 10 or 12 the next time out.”

Burnes will get his next chance Tuesday night against the D-backs. Woodruff follows Wednesday.

At this point in their careers, Woodruff said, “a bad game’s not going to hurt our feelings.” So, they dissect the tough games together to pull through it. It’s collaborative with all the starters, including in Spring Training, when pitchers and catchers gathered each morning to discuss what happened in the game the day before.

“There’s no panic,” Burnes said. “I think you sometimes see young guys come up and they have a tough game and it’s like, back to the drawing board. It’s about not panicking and not completely changing what you do. What got us to this place is doing what we do best.

“Woody has a great four-seam fastball he can put by guys. When you have that little bit of adversity or little bit of trouble, you have to go back to what you do best. Woody can throw that fastball 70 percent of the time and guys aren’t going to touch it. … The saying I always use is, when you face adversity, you don’t rise to the competition, you fall back to your training.”

Their conversation is getting going now. Burnes and Woodruff begin talking to each other.

It’s a glimpse into the talks they have when the interview isn’t there.

“I can say the same,” Woodruff said. “I wish I could spin the baseball like Corbin does, but my base is being able to put two different fastballs [where he wants]. His base is being able to spin the baseball and he developed the four-seam into the cutter. That’s what he does well. We’ve had to learn that over the years.

“We’re different, but we think a lot of the same ways and we go about our business a lot of the same.”

Said Burnes: “It’s knowing what you do best. That’s what we try to teach [Aaron] Ashby and some of the young guys. When you got to the big leagues doing what you do best, keep doing that. The organization might try to send you this direction, the game might try to send you this direction; know what you do best.”

Back to where we started: Do they compete with each other?

“Not really,” Woodruff said. “The competing is like, if Corbin goes out one day and throws up seven zeroes, I want to throw up eight. It’s not a personal thing, it’s something that helps this team out. … It’s friendly in the same way with Freddy and [Adrian] Houser and [Eric Lauer]. Now you have Wade [Miley] over here.”

“Maybe not Wade,” Burnes chimes in.

“If we throw up some zeroes, Miley wants to throw that no-hitter again,” Woodruff said.

Listening from a couple of lockers over, Miley chimes in.

“I’m trying to ride these boys to the promised land,” he says.