Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff has taken another step toward his return to the rotation.

The Brewers on Tuesday announced that Woodruff, who has been on the 15-day Injured List since May 1 for right shoulder inflammation, is being sent to the ACL Brewers for a rehab assignment. The ACL, which stands for Arizona Complex League, is the Rookie-level affiliate of the organization.

Woodruff ended up on the IL after a bizarre outing on April 30 against the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he pitched just 1.1 innings and threw only 21 pitches before coming out due to an egregious lack of velocity. Woodruff’s fastballs were consistently falling below 90 mph, which produced enough concern to remove him from the game.

According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, Woodruff’s fastball was down about 7 mph against the Diamondbacks. Given Woodruff’s lengthy injury history, concern surrounded the diagnosis, which ended up not being threatening to his season. 

However, according to McCalvy, Woodruff underwent a minor procedure on his shoulder to address the inflammation, which has now kept him out more than a month. Woodruff's throwing shoulder has given him significant trouble since 2023, when he had to miss most of the season and all of the 2024 campaign due to surgery to repair the anterior capsule.

Woodruff finally returned to the lineup on July 6, 2025, and provided the Brewers with strong outings. It looked as if Woodruff had returned to form and would be ready for the postseason, but a right lat strain suffered in late September compelled him to the IL yet again and resulted in his absence for a third-straight October slate of playoff baseball.

Woodruff recovered during the offseason and made his return to the mound on March 31 against the Tampa Bay Rays, where he was able to notch the winning decision after striking out six batters and allowing four hits and two earned runs over five innings of work.

Woodruff continued to string together quality outings in the early days of the 2026 season, and by the time of his injury, he had a 2-1 record with a 3.60 ERA across six starts and 30 total innings pitched.

The Brewers’ pitching staff, led by the strong performances of Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison, has been a defining factor in Milwaukee's success.

However, injuries to pitchers have been a plague for the Brewers. Woodruff's arm is hardly the only one out of commission, which makes his positive steps toward returning a point of significance for the top team in the National League Central Division.

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