There Are No Moral Victories, Except When There Are: Brandon Woodruff Returns to the Majors

When Brandon Woodruff's shoulder blew out at the end of the 2023 season, it was hard not to take it hard. At the time, in the wake not only of his injury but of the Brewers' unceremonious dismissal from the postseason at the hands of the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks, I wrote about what felt like it might be (in a very real sense) the end of the Brewers as we knew them. Way back then, we didn't even know for sure that Craig Counsell was about to depart the organization, or what would become not only of Woodruff, but of Willy Adames and Corbin Burnes. That felt like a moment at which everything the team had assiduously built over the previous near-decade was fragile, and at risk of breaking down.

Instead, Sunday, the team will send their one-time ace to the mound for the first time in over 21 months. For the first time under Pat Murphy; for the first time in the Brewers tenures of Rhys Hoskins, Joey Ortiz or Jackson Chourio; and for the first time since Bob Uecker died, Woodruff will toe the rubber in a game that counts. As bitter and hard as the memories of his tearful press conference in October 2023 are, and as painful as it is to think about the losses in each of the last two NL Wild Card Series, improbably, this team and its longest-tenured player have survived the last two years. They've thrived, even. When Woodruff last took the mound at the House That Loria Built, the team had just clinched its second division title in three years, but the future looked foggy. Now, he'll come full-circle by pitching again in the same stadium, with the team defending another division crown from 2024—and they're not, by any means, out of the hunt to do just that.

We almost certainly won't see the same Woodruff Sunday as we saw when he was healthy and undamaged. That pitcher might well be gone forever. This version doesn't throw nearly as hard, even after he finally got the extra tick he seemed to be craving in his final rehab start with Triple-A Nashville.

He's forced himself to evolve and create a new way to stretch the zone and change hitters' eye levels, with a deeper arsenal that includes both a cutter and a sweeper, the latter replacing his shorter slider and giving him a much wider spectrum of east-west movement.

That's all well and good, but he's also not capable of the same delivery he used in the past, which robs his heat of some of its apparent ride at the top of the zone. He's releasing the ball higher, which changes the relative appearance and the shape of each of his pitches a bit.

Between the velocity loss and the small but meaningful changes in shape, Woodruff will need to reinvent himself, with that new cutter doing a hefty bit of work and his four-seamer leading the way much less forcefully than it has in the past.

It will be an upset if Woodruff is ever again the ace the Brewers used to rely on so confidently. He probably won't eat that many innings. He probably won't miss that many bats. He'll probably be more of a back-end starter. But that really doesn't matter. It is a tremendous and profoundly real victory just to have him back in the rotation at all. It's a testament to the work of both the player and the team, and the trust they share. That they don't need any more than what he's likely to be speaks to what they've done to transition smoothly from David Stearns to Matt Arnold, and from Counsell to Murphy, (arguably) getting even better along the way. That they will have a chance to get something out of him speaks to Woodruff's eagerness to make good on his decade-plus in the organization, and to his adaptability and tenacity.

Come October, there are no moral victories. On this Sunday in early July, though, there can be one. Woodruff's return is a triumph of both the individual and the team, and a moment worthy of celebration. Before the game is even over, everyone's attention will turn to whether the team can eke out a win over a hot Miami club, but for the first inning or two, just enjoy the moment.