When Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Brandon Williamson first felt soreness in his left shoulder, he thought he’d take a few days off from pitching, rehab the injury and be back in the Reds’ rotation in no time.
Williamson felt the injury during his final spring training appearance in March. What he didn’t know at the time was that he had a Bennett lesion in his shoulder. He went on a rehab assignment in June, stopped it because he was still in pain and found himself on a long path back to the big leagues.
"The season could have went a lot of ways, and I even contemplated having surgery in July after I shut down for the second time," Williamson said. "I felt like there was still a chance that I could get back this year."
On Sunday, as the Reds avoided a sweep against the Milwaukee Brewers with a 4-3 win on an 11th-inning walk-off single by pinch-hitter Santiago Espinal, Williamson made a strong return. While pitching on a pitch count, he allowed two runs in 3 ⅓ innings, but one of the runs should have been unearned and charged as an error on third baseman Noelvi Marte.
His patience paid off with a win over the Brewers.
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"I'm really glad it went like this," Williamson said.
The injury took longer to rehab than he expected. But at the same time, he made it back to the big leagues a lot quicker than he thought he was going to a few weeks ago.
Pitchers who are coming back from long-term injuries almost always have longer rehab assignments that can last up to a month. Following his final setback, Williamson’s timeline to return was “sometime in September.”Until recently, no one expected that sometime would be Sept. 1.
"Brandon has been working for a while, really all summer, to get all the way back and be sure he's healthy," Reds manager David Bell said. "There have been different points in the summer where he has been built up a bit and had to back off. He wasn't really starting from scratch. We felt like he was prepared to pitch here, just not very deep into the game."
Williamson resumed his rehab assignment on Aug. 27 and allowed one run in 2 ⅔ innings. Usually, pitchers on rehab assignments report to the big league clubhouse right after their final rehab outing. But Williamson wasn’t announced as Sunday’s starter until late Saturday night.
Williamson wasn’t built up to throw 100-plus pitches, so his return was an abbreviated outing. But he threw a lot of strikes, struck out five batters, threw a very effective cutter and kept the Reds in the game. He picked up a Reds’ pitching staff that’s running out of starters.
"I was ready," Williamson said. "Pitching is pitching. Throw good pitches and get guys out. I had been working all summer to be ready for that call. I was happy to have it."
Last year, Williamson was the Reds’ most consistent starter. He didn’t show the flashes of potential that Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott showed, but Williamson looked like a pitcher the Reds could build with. He mixes and matches five pitches and has an unorthodox throwing motion for a left-hander.
The biggest concern with him has always been his left shoulder. In 2022, when Williamson was in the minor leagues, he said that his shoulder was the reason for his disappointing season.
When Williamson’s shoulder injury popped back up in 2024, season-ending surgery was on the table. Williamson opted to rehab his injury, and he and the Reds came up with an approach that could help him take some of the wear-and-tear off of his shoulder
Williamson did exercises that increased his hip flexibility, added 15 pounds and developed the ability to throw the ball with less stress on his shoulder
It worked, and he looked like his old self in his season debut.
"It felt great," Williamson said. "I got some nerves early that I was pretty ecstatic to feel. I hadn't felt nerves in a while. I settled in nice. It's great to get a win."
