Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff is on the team's World Series roster, the club announced Friday.
Woodruff, the Brewers' longest-tenured player, has been out since early July with a shoulder injury that was originally expected to end his season. The 33-year-old was slated to have surgery, but his recovery went better than expected, which has put him in a position to potentially pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays.
"I want to compete and I want to pitch, but I understand the other side of it," Woodruff said Friday, according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "My message was to help in any capacity to help get outs. I didn't want this to be a charity pick."
The two-time All-Star posted a 2.98 ERA with 0.84 WHIP and 47 strikeouts over 45 1/3 innings (nine starts) during the regular season before his injury. He's spent his entire nine-year career with the Brewers, going 55-30 with a 3.10 ERA and 10.5 K/9 across 790 1/3 innings (136 starts).
"He's been one of the best pitchers in this organization's history," Christian Yelich said Thursday, according to Steve Megargee of The Associated Press. "For a while, he was the guy, if we needed to win a big game, of all the talented pitchers we've had here, I would have always picked him."
Game 1 of the Fall Classic starts Friday at American Family Field.
