“I’m not going to forget how to pitch,” says Brandon Woodruff, setting the stage for his eventual comeback.

PHOENIX: You wouldn’t realize that Brandon Woodruff has been a member of the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Fields of Phoenix for almost four weeks unless you happened to run into him in an empty hallway or had a day with the training staff.

Woodruff has been busy and out of the way this spring.

The strong right-hander arrives at the Brewers’ facilities early and spends his days recovering after surgery on his anterior capsule in his right shoulder during the off-season.

In an attempt to fully recover from an injury that can alter a pitcher’s career, Woodruff has started throwing, albeit only from a 30-foot distance, in recent days, with the team that drafted and developed him.

Last week, on one of the rare occasions when he had any free time, Woodruff said, “It feels different,” at his locker in the clubhouse. I mean, my shoulder is essentially brand-new. It simply takes some getting used to with all the Kleenex and such. It feels awkward for the first five pitches. I haven’t tossed a baseball in five months, nothing terrible. Every muscle is learning that this is its intended function. Although not perfect yet, things are improving.

Woodruff is happy to talk about his injury. Naturally, Woodruff is no stranger to this; he has always been the cheerful, trash-talking focal point of the Brewers clubhouse. However, it also indicates that he has returned to a place of comfort.

In Woodruff’s case, it could very well be the contrary. After the 2024 season, he was just one season away from becoming a free agent and earning a huge salary as one of the best pitchers in the league. However, he missed the most of last season due to a subscapularis injury in his shoulder. Later, he missed all of 2024 because to a capsular injury in the same shoulder, which prevented him from participating in the playoffs. When Woodruff was non-tendered by the Brewers in December, he found himself entering free agency—just not in the way he had anticipated.

Although Woodruff would not have gotten the kind of contract he was expected to if he hadn’t been injured, other teams were still very interested in signing him the months that followed.

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The 31-year-old put his money where his mouth was in February, agreeing to a backloaded two-year contract worth $17.5 million with the Brewers, despite having publicly expressed a desire to sign a long-term contract with the team.

“Why don’t I continue to wager on myself?” Woodruff stated. “The problem is not money. My goal is to triumph. Here, I feel at ease. The medical team is familiar with my shoulder, so they know it well. Simply said, I believe I’m in an excellent place to return here. I weighed a lot of things, but I can kind of influence and help run this rehab the way I want to. I wouldn’t say do what I want, exactly, but I can do that. A major contributing factor was that I’m not picking up new folks.

Unresolved matters contributed to Woodruff’s choice to return. Though he had other options to accept more money, his last recollection wearing a Brewers jersey It didn’t set right when he announced during a tearful press conference that he wouldn’t pitch in the playoffs due to a shoulder ailment.

“Bringing that guy back, investing in our future, enhancing our culture, and enhancing our character is a tremendous statement from our ownership and front office,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy stated. It’s quite awesome. We care about Brewers, and I believed that our front office and ownership made a fairly strong statement about that. History is important to us. Our clubhouse’s character is important to us.

Despite his strong desire to return to the field late in the season, Woodruff has stated that he will not pitch in 2024. However, he anticipates returning to his pre-injury form.

Woodruff responded, “For myself, yeah, I expect to be back.” “To be honest, I’m going to be the strongest I’ve ever been in my career because I’ll have a year to prepare my body for pitching.”

That’s what Woodruff has been thinking about since the last day of the 2023 regular season, when he unsuccessfully attempted to play catch and promptly got an MRI.

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Pitchers don’t usually recover from shoulder injuries the manner they would have liked, according to history. Some pitchers who had similar surgery to Woodruff and were never the same after recovering include Johan Santana, Chris Young, Rich Harden, and Dallas Braden.

Even if Woodruff doesn’t return to the game, he still has great expectations because he had surgery earlier than those pitchers high nineties with his fastball.

Woodruff remarked, “I’m just going to learn so much more about my body.” I’m getting used to a new shoulder. But I anticipate being the same guy in every way. Furthermore, what do you know? I swear to you that I will not forget to pitch, even if something else were to happen. In order for me to go outside and still figure it out.