‘I can pitch here’: Mariners’ Bryan Woo looking to build off fast-rising rookie season

PEORIA, Ariz. – Peruse the box score from the Mariners’ Sept. 29 game against the Texas Rangers and, meh, you’re probably not going to fixate on Bryan Woo’s pitching line from his final start of 2023.

The Mariners’ rookie right-hander pitched 3⅔ scoreless innings that Friday night before a revved-up crowd of 45,274 at T-Mobile Park, allowing two hits with three walks and five strikeouts on 82 pitches.

Spectacular, it was not.

What it was, however, was an important bookend to an unexpectedly strong season from a 23-year-old who wasn’t part of the Mariners’ plans at this time last year.

“It was a ‘grindy’ start. Definitely wasn’t pretty,” Woo said, looking back. “But it was one of those starts where you’ve got to do whatever you can to get the job done. And it was definitely fun to pitch in that environment, in a game that really meant something.”

Woo executed the game plan against that powerful Rangers lineup, giving the Mariners everything he had that night and setting the tone in an 8-0 win that kept alive (for one more day, anyway) their faint playoff hopes in that final series of the season.

That also neatly encapsulates Woo’s rookie season as a whole: He gave the Mariners everything they could have reasonably expected from a young pitcher just two years removed from Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow.

For Woo, that final start served two purposes:

1. It gave him added confidence that he belongs in the big leagues, that he can compete against the game’s best hitters and best lineups.

“I can pitch here,” he said. “I can pitch in meaningful games, and in stressful situations.”

2. It gave him answers against a Rangers lineup that had tormented him in two previous outings – an AL West lineup he’s sure to see again this year, and beyond.

In his major league debut, Woo was roughed up for six runs in just two innings on June 3 at Texas.

And on Sept. 24, the Rangers hit four home runs off Woo, who allowed another six runs and appeared entirely out of gas.

In those two road starts against the Rangers at Globe Life Field, Woo surrendered 12 earned runs in 5⅓ innings (20.25 ERA).

In his 16 other starts, Woo allowed 29 earned runs in 82⅓ innings (3.17 ERA).

“It’s just a matter of trusting your stuff and knowing it plays at this level,” he said.

“You’ve had success for a reason, and you’ve failed for a reason, too. You try to take what you can from each one of those things and learn from it.”

Between the majors and minors, Woo threw 131⅔ innings in 2023, by far the most he’d thrown (and more than twice as many innings he threw in his first pro season in 2022).

Woo did spend two weeks on the injured list in August because of forearm inflammation.

Woo, 24, is locked in as the Mariners’ No. 5 starter going into this season, and the club plans to closely monitor his workload, pushing back some starts and perhaps skipping others as needed.

It helps that top pitching prospect Emerson Hancock has had a strong spring, and he’ll be an option to start in Woo’s place at various points throughout the season.

For now, Woo says he’s feeling strong.

“Physically, I feel like I’m in a good spot, especially compared to last year, when I felt like I was behind,” he said, adding: “Everybody here does a good job of taking care of us. So as long as I listen to them, I know they have my best interests in mind, I feel like I can trust them 100%, and I can just focus on what I need to work on.”

On Thursday, Woo was sharp in his second Cactus League start of the spring, throwing 2⅔ scoreless innings against the Angels at Peoria Sports Complex. He didn’t allow a hit, issuing one walk with three strikeouts.

“He threw the ball really well,” manager Scott Servais said after the game. “It was great to see.”

Woo wasn’t as crisp in his first start of the spring last week against the Rockies, allowing four runs on six hits as he was emphasizing his secondary pitches more. Against the Angels on Thursday, he wanted to establish his two fastballs, the four-seamer and two-seamer, and he aggressively attacked the strike zone early.

“I was just trying to treat today a little more game-like, regular-season-like. Just compete and go get outs,” Woo said. “We’ll continue to work on the stuff we need to work, and that’ll just come with repetition and innings in games.”

Bryce Miller arrived on the scene from Double-A ball a month ahead of Woo last summer, and Miller generated more fanfare because of a rising fastball that baffled hitters up in the zone.

The next step for both young pitchers is to command their secondary pitches.

Miller is breaking in a new split-fingered fastball that has shown some exciting potential.

Woo didn’t add any new pitches to his arsenal, instead spending the offseason refining his three offspeed offerings (slider, sweeper and change-up).

He only threw his change-up 3.7% of the time last season (53 times total), but it’s a pitch he believes has a chance to be more effective this season.

“For me, it’s just about repetitions – just continuing to throw it more and getting a better feel for the movement,” Woo said.

“Especially this time of year. This is when you want to throw it – just keep throwing it and throwing it.”