MONTREAL -- When Brandon Woodruff was told he had a visitor waiting outside of the Brewers’ clubhouse in Montreal on Monday, he failed to come up with any ideas of who he could expect.

But when he stepped out to meet his mystery visitor, he couldn’t have been happier, or more surprised, to be reunited with Oil Can Boyd, a former Expos player and childhood coach of Woodruff and his late brother, Blake.

“He coached my brother, and was with one of my brother’s summer league teams,” Woodruff said. “As a kid, obviously I knew who Oil Can was, playing in the big leagues, seeing everything about him, and he used to throw me [batting practice] because I was at almost every one of my brother’s practices. He tried to show us stuff about pitching, and I was just 10 or 12 years old.”

Boyd originally made his way to Montreal for business purposes, but when he realized that his fellow Mississippi native was taking the mound against the Blue Jays on Monday night, he altered his plans to extend his stay.

“We talked about it back then, when I was little,” Woodruff said. ”We have a mutual friend in the town where I lived, and he got in contact with him when I made my debut back in ’17, and he’s kept up with me through my career. He’s known me since I was little, but it was cool getting to see him yesterday. When he saw I was pitching, he said he had to stay an extra night and watch me throw.”

As the two reminisced about the time they spent together a decade and a half ago -- before Woodruff allowed two runs on four hits with one walk and six strikeouts over three innings in his final spring tuneup on Monday -- Woodruff couldn’t help but smile when he recalled the early days of seeing his brother and Boyd play sandlot baseball.

“At the time he was playing semi-pro ball, with guys who either played in college or were out there for some fun, and some former pro guys like Oil Can,” Woodruff said. “It was sandlot baseball, and teams would meet up on Sunday evenings after church and play.

“I remember my brother playing on those teams with him, and some of the fields there would be goats tied to the fence, eating the grass and stuff, so that brought back some memories.”

Petricka to San Antonio
The Brewers optioned Jake Petricka to Triple-A before Tuesday's 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays, solidifying Milwaukee's bullpen for the time being. Through 10 Spring Training games and 11 innings, the 30-year-old right-hander allowed four runs on eight hits with six walks and 13 strikeouts.

“Jake’s going to pitch for us this year,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. “He had a good camp. I think some of the other guys had really good camps too. All three of those guys [competing for spots -- Petricka, Jacob Barnes and Taylor Williams] -- performed well. They all pitched well.

“Jake’s a ground-ball pitcher and he keeps the ball on the ground against right-handed hitters. That’s his strength and that’s what he does really well.”

Youth movement
Heading into Opening Day in Milwaukee against the Cardinals on Thursday, the most meaningful thing Counsell gleaned from Spring Training was a level of excitement and anticipation to see his young starters in game action.

Woodruff led the young starters with a 2.55 ERA over five starts and 17 2/3 innings, walking six and striking out 26 batters. Entering his final spring start on Tuesday, 24-year-old Corbin Burnes posted a 5.79 ERA in six games and 18 2/3 innings, with four walks and 21 strikeouts. Freddy Peralta, 22, put up a 5.06 mark in four starts and 10 2/3 innings, walking four and fanning 18.

“I’m very encouraged by our young starters,” Counsell said. “They’ve all had very good camps, and I’m really looking forward to watching them pitch. They all put a good foot forward in camp, and it feels like they’ve taken another step forward from last October and that wasn’t easy to do from how they pitched at the end of the season.”

More to come
Though the Brewers’ roster sits at 25, the team is not ready to submit its roster for Opening Day just yet.

“I can’t say that we’re done making moves,” Counsell said. “The roster is not set; there still could be more transactions. There’s still player movement going on.”

Up next
The Brewers head home to Milwaukee from Montreal with their spring slate complete. After an off-day on Wednesday, Jhoulys Chacin is set to get the Opening Day start against St. Louis, which will counter with Miles Mikolas. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. CT on Thursday at Miller Park.