Milwaukee Brewers' veteran starting pitching Brandon Woodruff is one step closer to returning to the mound. After undergoing shoulder surgery for maintenance on the anterior capsule in his right shoulder last October, Woodruff participated in a 15-pitch bullpen session ahead of the Brewers' three-game series opener against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, per MLB.com.

Woodruff's next session will be on Friday or Saturday at Great American Park, where the Cincinnati Reds will host a four-game series against the Brewers this weekend. Woodruff, who will not return in 2024, is still in the early stages of his recovery, but his first 15-pitch bullpen session is undoubtedly a step in the right direction.

Still, Woodruff stressed that these are still very early days in his bid to return to the form that produced a 3.10 ERA over his seven seasons in Milwaukee. And the 29-year-old right-hander, the Brewers' longest-tenured pitcher, is looking forward to traveling to Cincinnati with his Brewers teammates.

When Milwaukee signed Woodruff to a two-year extension, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said he considered him a fixture of the organization's greatest era, via Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.

“You can't talk about the greatest era in Brewer history and not talk about Brandon Woodruff,” Murphy said. “He's been rock solid, and he's trusted by every single person that has been on our teams.”

For the 29-year-old starting pitcher, the Brewers exemplified the kind of commitment that's rejuvenated the right-hander to rehab and work hard to the best of his ability in 2024.

“Now that I'm signed back, it kind of just hit me like, man, this is where I'm supposed to be, whether it's two more years or whatever it looks like,” Woodruff said. “I've still got a lot of, I guess you could say, unfinished business in the Brewers' uniform. And that's the way I feel about it.”

The Brewers re-signed Woodruff to a two-year, $17.5 million deal in February.