This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
On a night where the Mariners badly needed a stopper, Bryan Woo stepped up to the plate. Err, the mound.
The offense coming to life in the Mariners' most dominant win in 2023 was the obvious headliner, but Seattle also got a brilliant performance from its rookie right-hander in the 10-2 victory. With his parents in attendance all the way from the Bay Area, Woo carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and completely quieted the ticketed 42,440 in the Bronx -- other than the raining boos aimed at the Yanks’ scuffles.
“I tried to take it in as much as I could the first two days [of the series],” Woo said. “On start days, I really don't look into the crowd too much or look around. I'm pretty just locked in on what my job is. ... Tonight was just to get to business, help get us a win.”
Woo gave up consecutive hits to Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo after 5 1/3 innings to end his night after 93 pitches, two shy of his season high at Double-A Arkansas. His only other baserunners were via three walks. He struck out five to bring his season total to 25, ranking behind only Félix Hernández (30) and Erik Hanson (27) for the most in Mariners history for a pitcher through their first four career starts.
Moreover, Woo has shown significant improvement in each of his three outings since a rough debut on June 3 in Arlington, where he surrendered six runs and didn’t make it beyond the second inning. Seattle has won each of those three starts.
“He's really good at making adjustments,” catcher Cal Raleigh said. “Everything that we've communicated and relayed to him, he's done a good job of adjusting and kind of taking it on the run. It's not easy, especially when you go up here. He's done a really good job.”
On Thursday, Woo flashed an elite two- and four-seam fastball combination for most of his success. He rides the four-seam at the top rail for elite swing-and-miss and utilizes the two-seam, which has more sinking behaviors than those of Luis Castillo and George Kirby, for six groundouts. He even dipped in a gnarly changeup to Kyle Higashioka for a swinging strikeout in the fifth.
“It's been a work in progress, kind of up and down,” Woo said of the offspeed. “The first half of the year, the start to the year, it hasn't really been great. But just continuing to throw it. The only thing with the changeup, it's such a feel pitch. You've got to keep throwing it.”
Only three of the 13 balls that the Yanks put in play against Woo were classified by Statcast as hard hit, and they averaged an 80.1 mph exit velocity, well below the 95 mph hard-hit threshold.
"That heater is real; sinker and four-seam with it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “And he was tough tonight."
Seattle’s No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Woo has been a stabilizing force to the club’s big league rotation, which is without its two most seasoned arms, Robbie Ray and Marco Gonzales. Ray is out for the year following Tommy John surgery and Gonzales’ timeline for a return from a left forearm strain is uncertain, but he reported positives on Seattle’s most recent homestand.
There’s a workload factor here, too, with Woo reaching 61 2/3 innings for the year (including Minors), surpassing the 57 he threw last year in his debut season.
The Mariners diligently watch fatigue factors well beyond innings totals with behind-the-scenes numbers tracked by their high-performance staff, and it’s nothing that they’re not accustomed to after doing so with Kirby and Logan Gilbert each of the past two years. Typically, they monitor workloads in a stretch of multiple starts.
“He's got a really good fastball,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “And you know that as long as it gets in the strike zone -- again, that made him work; they made him throw a lot of pitches -- but it was awesome stuff. Really good to see."