Brandon Woodruff avoids IL stint and will start Brewers' 5th game of the season

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff will be ready to start the season on time, a welcome development for a Brewers rotation lacking experience.

The Brewers announced Monday that the two-time All-Star right-hander would start their fifth game of the season, March 31 against the Tampa Bay Rays. Woodruff had spent spring training working his way back after missing the postseason with a lat strain, raising the possibility he might open the year with at least a brief stint on the injured list.

“I felt like personally I was in a good spot,” Woodruff said before the Brewers’ Monday night exhibition game with the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field. “I was recovering. My pitch count is probably obviously a little less than some of the guys coming out of camp, but I felt like I was recovering. I felt like the stuff was there and coming along. I didn’t feel like I necessarily wanted to go pitch in minor league games, pretty much is the way I felt about it.”

Woodruff’s availability boosts a rotation that will open the season without Quinn Priester, who had a breakthrough season last year with a 13-3 record and 3.32 ERA. Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, “I think you’ll see (Priester) in early May if all goes well” as the right-hander deals with a nerve issue.

Priester had been dealing with an apparent wrist problem for much of the preseason and eventually received a diagnosis indicating it was at least partially related to thoracic outlet syndrome.

That leaves Milwaukee opening with a rotation that’s long on talent but short on veterans beyond the 33-year-old Woodruff, who is back with the Brewers after accepting their $22.025 million qualifying offer during the offseason.

Flame-throwing right-hander Jacob Misiorowski, who made 15 appearances as a rookie last season, will start the season opener Thursday against the Chicago White Sox. Right-handers Chad Patrick and Brandon Sproat will start the final two games of the White Sox series, while lefty Kyle Harrison starts Monday’s series opener with the Rays.

This will be the fifth career start for the 25-year-old Sproat, one of the players acquired in the trade that sent two-time All-Star right-hander Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets. Patrick, 27, went 3-8 with a 3.53 ERA in 27 appearances as a rookie last season. Harrison, who came to Milwaukee in the deal that sent third baseman Caleb Durbin to Boston, has made 42 appearances but is only 23 years old.

That makes the Brewers particularly grateful to have Woodruff’s veteran presence available for the start of the season as they begin their pursuit of a fourth straight NL Central title.

“I think it’s an encouraging sign, right?” Murphy said. “We weren’t thinking that he was going to be on the team early, but the way it was going, it went so well in terms of he feels great, and he feels like he’s ready. And you’ve got to trust the player.”

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