Bryan Woo made his second start of spring training on Tuesday, and the Mariners will be delighted with how he’s beginning to find his groove.
The Seattle Mariners are understandably hoping that 2026 will see Bryan Woo return to the form that he showed last season. He proved to be the most consistent and just outright best starter in the rotation, until things went sour for him right at the end of the regular season with a pectoral injury.
Mariners fans can only wonder how much of a difference it would have made if they had Woo healthy and available throughout the playoffs. He did return during the ALCS versus the Toronto Blue Jays, but he clearly — and understandably — wasn’t able to replicate his pre-injury form, as he allowed four hits, three walks and three earned runs in 4.1 combined innings.
The righty is laser-focused on again being the player who set a franchise record by going at least 6.0 innings in each of his first 25 starts of the campaign and led all Mariners pitchers with a 4.2 bWAR and 15 wins. He earned his first All-Star selection, was named to the 2025 All-MLB Second Team and finished fifth in AL Cy Young voting.
Woo has already proved his dedication to this process, by sacrificing playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic after receiving an invite. He explained that he wants to be at his best for the Mariners this coming season, as he takes aim at 200+ innings for the first time in his career.
A fine second spring training outing for Bryan Woo
Tuesday provided the next step in Woo preparing for the 2026 campaign as he made his second start of spring training, facing a Los Angeles Angels team who he loves to get strikeouts against. In fact, in his last outing versus the Angels on Sept. 13 last season, he struck out a career-high 13 batters in a 5-3 win to easily surpass his previous best of nine strikeouts.
Strikeouts were the name of the game for the 26-year-old again versus the Angels on Tuesday afternoon, as he struck out three batters in two scoreless innings to open the game in Peoria. However, things went a bit wayward in the third inning as he walked the lead-off batter then allowed a single, before recording a fourth strikeout and being lifted due to his pitching limit.
Woo was subsequently tagged with two earned runs, due to his replacement Michael Rucker giving up a couple of hits to bring home the two runners he’d left on base. Still, it couldn’t take away from what was an encouraging outing for him, as he is edges closer to being the same pitcher who dominated on the mound last season.
In all, the Oakland native faced 10 batters over his 2.1 innings and threw 48 pitches with 27 called strikes, while allowing two hits and the aforementioned walk. He threw his four-seamer 21 times, with it averaging 95.2 mph through his two spring training starts – not far off the 95.7 mph he averaged last season.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson full of praise
Some of Woo’s other pitches still need work, but he’s not too concerned – nor should he be at this stage. Speaking to the media postgame, as per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, he said:
“I think the velocity will come. The mechanics will come. I’m not really as focused on that, but more just where my stuff’s at, locating pitches, getting ahead and doing little things. By starting to do those things earlier and often, then they just kind of bleed into the season.”
Mariners manager Dan Wilson had no complaints about what he saw from last season’s defacto ace. Wilson said:
“I thought Brian Woo had a really good start today, came out, came out firing. I thought he had great stuff. You know, the first couple innings he really looked strong. And it was good to get him out there for that third (inning).”
Other notes
- Patrick Wisdom had a stellar game, going 2-for-3 with his first home run of spring and a two-out, two-RBI single.
- Rhylan Thomas also went 2-for-3 on the day and hit his second home run of Cactus League play.
- Ryan Bliss, Jackson Reetz and Carson Taylor each picked up a double.
- The Mariners gave up a 6-4 lead late as Yolmer Sánchez hit the game-tying, two-run double in the top of the ninth and Donovan Walton drove in the game-winning run on a single for a 7-6 win.
- Cooper Criswell will get the start for the M’s on Wednesday night, as they face the San Francisco Giants on the road in Scottsdale.
Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography
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