TEMPE, Ariz. – For nine years in the big leagues, Brandon Woodruff has been known as “Woody” or “Big Woo.”
In Year 10, you can add another moniker to the list.
“He’s the ‘Unc,’” Chad Patrick said.
“I think Chad hit it right on the head,” Jacob Misiorowski said. “He’s the Unc that everyone looks up to.”
When Woodruff found out what his teammates were calling him, he had to turn to Google.
“I had to learn what the ‘Unc’ phrase meant,” said Woodruff after his two-inning Cactus League debut March 7 against the Los Angeles Angels at Diablo Stadium.
For those unacquainted with the slang making its way through the home clubhouse in Maryvale, ‘Unc’ – short for uncle – is an affectionate term toward an older male mentor.
“You know what? It’s kind of like a rite of passage,” Woodruff said. “I’m getting to that point in my career. I don’t feel like I’m 33. I don’t feel like I’m eight years older than these guys or whatever it is.”
This is life for Woodruff on the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers.
With seven years, 161 days of service time, he is the senior member of the starting staff, and by a wide margin. The rest of the opening day starting rotation – if it features Patrick, Misiorowski, Brandon Sproat and Kyle Harrison – has a combined three years and 14 days in the majors.
For Woodruff, it’s reminiscent of 2017 when he was first getting his feet wet in the majors. The most valuable learning experiences weren’t necessarily what anyone said to him, but came in watching veterans such at Matt Garza go about their work.
“I try to come in, I try to have the same attitude and step No. 1 is being the same guy every day,” Woodruff said. “If you’re a veteran player and you’re coming in and you’re not necessarily doing the correct things but kind of going all over the place, they pick up on that. As you learn, this game is all about consistency… so I try to be the same guy in terms of that and come in and do my work and my job.
“Hopefully, it rubs off on guys.”
It has, says Misiorowski, who experienced a big-league learning curve in terms of day-to-day preparation last year.
“You just watch him and he’s very precise,” Misiorowski said. “It’s exactly what he wants and it’s at this exact time. Regimented would be a better word. It’s really cool to watch and see how much thought goes into every single throw, every single warm-up.”
Last year, Woodruff’s primary focus was on getting himself back to form in his first year returning from shoulder surgery, which meant he couldn’t spend as much time mentoring younger pitchers as he would have liked. But rookies like Misiorowski and Patrick were able to glean plenty just by watching.
“He leads by example,” manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s very authentic. He’s very real. People respect him when they watch him. They see the way he goes about it and how he treats people.”
Woodruff isn’t just the senior member of the staff; he’s also the senior smack talker.
“I’m grateful to be able, any one of us, to be able to pick his brain apart and take the crap he gives me and try to give it back,” Patrick said. “But it doesn’t go over well.”
Woodruff doesn’t deny this.
“I probably give them a lot of crap in the meantime, but it’s all from a good place,” he said.
The exact plan for Woodruff this year isn’t quite scripted, but Murphy said the team will be in “constant conversation” with the righty about how to play the season out.
The first question to solve in that process is opening day.
Woodruff’s shoulder, by all accounts given from both he and Murphy, is fully healthy. With two more scheduled starts in Cactus League play, Woodruff could have enough time to ramp up and pitch on opening day March 26 at American Family Field.
The Brewers aren’t rushing to make a decision, though they are sending some messages between the lines.
“We’re just taking our time with it,” Woodruff said. “Opening day is a special day but nobody is going to remember it after opening day. They’re going to remember September or October, and that’s what I want to be a part of at the end of the year.”
Pitching in the postseason is Woodruff’s ultimate goal for 2026 after being unable to do so any of the past three years. A torn labrum that required surgery held him out in 2023 and 2024, then a right lat strain suffered last September shelved him for the Brewers’ run to the National League Championship Series last fall.
“The end goal in mind is the season, and the end of the season,” Woodruff said. “That’s what I’m picturing.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers have given elder statesman Brandon Woodruff a new name in Year 10
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
