Brewers Notes: Woodruff, Hall, Ashby, Civale

It’s been a difficult start to the season in Milwaukee, as the Brewers have posted a lackluster 16-18 record and currently sit five games back of the Cubs in the NL Central. The losses of Willy Adames and Devin Williams this offseason certainly haven’t helped matters, but perhaps the most glaring issue with the club this year has been the starting rotation. Only Marlins and Orioles starters have posted a worse figure than Milwaukee’s 4.94 rotation FIP, and while they’ve outperformed their peripherals so far a 4.02 ERA is still below average and a far cry from the days of Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff helping carry the team to the postseason.

Burnes is long gone, already on his second team since departing Milwaukee prior to the 2024 season, but Woodruff remains in the organization after missing 2024 rehabbing surgery to repair a capsule tear in his shoulder. He’s yet to make his 2025 debut while finishing up his rehab process, but the right-hander’s return to the majors appears to be imminent. As noted by MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, Woodruff is expected to make two more rehab starts before he makes his return to the majors: one this coming Tuesday, and one on May 11. At that point, Woodruff will run out of time on his 30-day rehab assignment and need to be reinstated to the big league roster unless he suffers a setback that necessitates the team pulling him back from his rehab assignment.

Woodruff’s return can’t come soon enough, given how talented the right-hander is. One of the best pitchers in the majors since his breakout 2019 season, the right-hander has looked good in four rehab starts this year, with a 2.45 ERA in 18 1/3 innings. His strikeout rate of 21.6% is well below his usual mark, though it’s worth noting that figure has jumped to a much more robust 29.4% since he was promoted to Triple-A, suggesting his stuff is improving as he shakes off the rust from more than a year away from the mound. If Woodruff can offer Milwaukee ace-level production in his age-32 season, it would be a game changer for their chances in the NL Central and give the club an elite 1-2 punch alongside Freddy Peralta.

While no other pitcher in the organization can be expected to offer the sort of elite production Woodruff has posted when at his best, he’s far from the only potential rotation arm on the mend. Southpaw DL Hall began a rehab assignment yesterday and, as noted by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is being built up as a starter with an eye towards a return later this month or early next month. Acquired alongside Joey Ortiz in the Burnes trade, the 26-year-old struggled to a 5.02 ERA in 43 innings of work with the Brewers last year but is a former first-round pick with impressive stuff and plenty of potential. If Milwaukee can harness Hall’s arsenal, it would hardly be a surprise to see him emerge as a quality piece as Tobias Myers did last year and Chad Patrick appears to be doing this season.

Meanwhile, veteran right-hander Aaron Civale appears to be nearing a rehab assignment of is own, with Hogg suggesting that the soon-to-be 30-year-old hurler is poised to begin a rehab assignment next week. That would seemingly put Civale, who made just one start this season before going on the shelf due to a hamstring strain, behind Hall in terms of preparedness to return, though perhaps after having a full spring training Civale won’t need as long of a rehab stint as the southpaw. The righty posted a 3.53 ERA in 14 starts for the Brewers after being acquired from the Rays last July, and would be a solid addition to the middle of Milwaukee’s rotation upon his return.

While Civale seems all but guaranteed to return to the Brewers rotation when healthy and Hall is at least being stretched out as a starter, the future is murkier for southpaw Aaron Ashby. He’s been sidelined since Spring Training by an oblique injury, and was expected to build up as a starter at that point, but has yet to begin a minor league rehab assignment. Hogg suggests that a return this month isn’t “out of the question” for the southpaw, but such a short window for return would seem to require the Brewers to bring him back into the fold without fully stretching him out. Given that the club has added Jose Quintana and Quinn Priester to its rotation mix since Ashby last pitched, it’s possible that the club is changing gears with the lefty and plans to use him in long relief this season. It’s a role Ashby looked quite good in last year, as he posted a 2.86 ERA and 2.81 FIP despite being limited to just 28 1/3 innings of work.