Bryan Joseph Woo (born January 30, 2000) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career

Woo attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California, where he played on their

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team. As a senior in 2018, he went 8-2 with a 1.25

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) while

hitting A strike is a directed physical attack with either a part of the human body or with an inanimate object (such as a weapon) intended to cause blunt trauma or penetrating trauma upon an opponent. There are many different varieties of strikes. A ...

.422. That summer, he played in the

Alaska Baseball League The Alaska Baseball League (ABL) is an amateur collegiate summer baseball league. Players in the league must have attended one year of college and must have one year of NCAA eligibility remaining. The Midnight Sun Game, held at Growden Memorial ...

with the

Peninsula Oilers The Peninsula Oilers are a college summer baseball club in the Alaska Baseball League. The Oilers are based in Kenai, Alaska, and their name refers to the Kenai Peninsula region. They are the league's southernmost team. The team was founded in 1 ...

. After high school, Woo enrolled at

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Cal Poly Mustangs The Cal Poly Mustangs are the athletic teams representing California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The university fields twenty-one teams and compete in NCAA Division I; they are primarily members of the Big West ...

. As a freshman in 2019, he pitched to an 8.75 ERA over innings. He returned to play for the Oilers that summer. He pitched only innings in 2020 before the college baseball season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In 2021, he compiled a 6.11 ERA over 28 innings before undergoing

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

and missing the rest of the season.

Professional career

Woo was selected by the

in the sixth round with the 174th overall selection of the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The ...

. He signed with the Mariners for $318,200, which was slightly above the $286,500 slot value of the Mariners'' pick. He made his professional debut in 2022 with the

Arizona Complex League Mariners The Arizona Complex League Mariners are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Arizona. The team is ...

and was promoted to the Low-A Modesto Nuts and

High-A High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Everett AquaSox The Everett AquaSox are a Minor League Baseball team in Everett, Washington. The team is a member of the Northwest League and is affiliated with the Seattle Mariners. The AquaSox play their home games at Funko Field, which has a seating capacity o ...

during the season. Over 16 starts for the three clubs, Woo posted a 1–4 record with a 4.11 ERA and 84 strikeouts over 57 innings. He was selected to play in the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Javelinas after the season. To begin the 2023 season, Woo was assigned to the Double-A Arkansas Travelers. In nine starts, Woo registered a 3–2 record and 2.05 ERA with 59 strikeouts in 44 innings pitched. On June 2, 2023, the Mariners announced that Woo would be promoted to the major leagues to start the following day against the Texas Rangers. Starting in place of

Marco Gonzales Marco Elias Gonzales (born February 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals. He attended Gonzaga University, whe ...

, Woo allowed six runs in two innings. He finished his rookie season with a 4–5 record and 4.21 ERA, striking out 92 batters in innings. Woo started the 2024 season on the

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

due to elbow inflammation. He made his first start of the season on May 10. In his first six starts, he posted a 1.07 ERA, the lowest in franchise history. He was scratched from his next start on June 11, and made two more starts, earning losses in both outings, before going on the injured list on June 25 with a hamstring injury. He was activated on July 12, returning to the Mariners rotation.

Personal life

Bryan Woo's parents are Clayton and Hilary Woo. As a child, Woo was a fan of the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

, and his favorite player was

Brandon Crawford Brandon Michael Crawford (born January 21, 1987) is an American professional baseball shortstop for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). Crawford played college baseball for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). H ...

References

External links

Cal Poly Mustangs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woo, Bryan 2000 births Living people Alameda High School alumni Arizona Complex League Mariners players Arkansas Travelers players Baseball players from Oakland, California Cal Poly Mustangs baseball players California Polytechnic State University alumni Everett AquaSox players Major League Baseball pitchers Modesto Nuts players Peninsula Oilers players Peoria Javelinas players Seattle Mariners players Tacoma Rainiers players