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After asking fans to round out the Opening Day roster last week, we followed that up with a question about who should be Milwaukee’s Opening Day starter this week.
Brandon Woodruff seems like the obvious choice, but after recent news that he may not be quite ready for an Opening Day outing, it’s an open door. Beyond Woodruff, the next two options are a pair of guys coming off solid rookie campaigns in Jacob Misiorowski and Chad Patrick. Other potential choices include Aaron Ashby, Robert Gasser, DL Hall, and Kyle Harrison.
Here’s what the results showed:
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Miz got the bulk of the vote, coming in at 50%. Woodruff netted 28% of the vote, followed by Patrick at 11% and the “Other” category at 10%.
Among the three named options, Patrick has struggled the most this spring, though he’s also pitched the most with five total innings (5.40 ERA with seven strikeouts). Misiorowski went 3 1/3 frames with one run allowed in his lone appearance, though he also went two innings with one run allowed in Milwaukee’s exhibition against Great Britain. Across those 5 1/3 innings, he’s totaled 11 strikeouts but allowed six walks and four hits.
Woodruff made his spring debut on March 7 against the Angels, working two scoreless innings with two hits allowed, a walk, and a hit batter with three strikeouts on 32 pitches. At the rate he’s going, I wouldn’t expect him to be able to pitch more than 75 or 80-ish pitches come Opening Day, which makes the case for Misiorowski or someone else a bit clearer.