Brandon Woodruff

After a mostly nondescript regular season, Woodruff cranked things up in September and into the playoffs. He worked in relief, which allowed him to maximize his pitches and show dominant stuff. An 11th-round pick in 2014, he posted a healthy 26.7 K% in 42.1 regular-season innings. He paired that with average control (8.0 BB%) and an above-average 53.1% groundball rate. The combination of strikeouts and groundballs is quite appealing, although it remains to be seen if the improved stuff will survive the transition back to the rotation. Woodruff was not all that effective as a starter in 2017, posting just a 9.8 K-BB% over eight starts. While the Brewers may go into the season with Woodruff technically in the rotation, they have embraced the idea of blurring the lines between starters and relievers, so he likely wouldn't log many six- or seven-inning outings. That usage should greatly benefit his ratios at the expensive of wins and strikeouts.

Woodruff got a shot at the Triple-A level last season after being named the Brewers' minor league pitcher of the year in 2016, and while his numbers were not pretty -- most aren't in the PCL -- he was effective and consistent enough to earn his first trip to the majors. He allowed just four earned runs in four starts out of the gate, but he crumbled after that, allowing 19 earned runs over his final four big-league starts. Still, his showing was good enough overall to put him in the conversation for a back-end spot in the Brewers' rotation to begin 2018. Woodruff throws a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and also a quality slider and average changeup, and though he averaged less than a strikeout per inning in 2017, he has shown improvement in that area the last two years. Woodruff is unlikely to be much of a factor early in shallow leagues, but if he earns a rotation spot in spring training, he possesses enough upside to be selected in the late rounds for deeper formats.

Woodruff may have been just an 11th-round pick in 2014, but he hasn't let falling in the draft stop him from cruising through the lower levels of the minor leagues. After dominating High-A with Brevard County through eight starts (1.83 ERA, 10.0 K/9), the 23-year-old earned a promotion to Double-A Biloxi. He finished on absolute fire, having allowed just one run over 22 innings in his final three starts to end the season with a 3.01 ERA. Even after advancing to Double-A, Woodruff continued to strike out over a batter per inning and maintained a K/BB above 4.0. Now over a year removed from a nasty oblique injury, Woodruff is looking like he could make his way into Milwaukee's rotation sooner than expected.