Bryan Woo’s Blunt Honesty Gives Mariners Fans The Answer They Needed

It’s frustrating. But fixable. Woo’s start against the Royals had the whole uncomfortable tension packed into one night. He got tagged for four runs in the first inning, then found himself enough to retire 13 straight batters, then got burned by two solo homers in the sixth. He hadn’t allowed a home run through his first five starts before giving up six across the next two. That’s a jarring swing for a pitcher whose whole appeal is built around attacking hitters.

Mariners See Why Bryan Woo’s Rough Stretch Does Not Need To Spiral

The good thing is that Woo didn’t hide behind the process. He acknowledged there were pieces to take from the outing, but he also understood the scoreboard didn’t care about his between-inning adjustments. 

Woo does not need to pretend everything is fine, and he didn’t. He needs to know the difference between a real flaw and a bad stretch, and his quote suggested he does. He sounded frustrated, accountable, and aware without sounding lost.

That doesn’t exactly take away the concern. Woo’s mistakes have been punished loudly, and the Mariners cannot keep watching early deficits become part of his routine. Even in a game where Julio Rodríguez nearly dragged Seattle all the way back with two huge swings, the margin disappeared because the first inning got away too quickly and the sixth inning reopened the wound.

Woo still has the foundation that made the Mariners believe in him in the first place. He throws strikes. He competes and he works quickly. The next step is making sure his aggression doesn’t turn into predictability, and making sure strikes on the edges do not become strikes over the heart of the plate.

So, we’re not quite at the place where we’re asking if anything is wrong with him. The better question is whether he can get back to turning strikes into weak contact instead of souvenirs. 

Woo seems to understand that better than anyone. And somehow, after one of his ugliest stretches in a Mariners uniform, that honesty might have been the most reassuring thing he gave them.