Mariners All-Star Bryan Woo has no business being a modern ace

The Seattle Mariners badly need to get back into the win column on Friday night, and they're turning to a starting pitcher who operates like he doesn't understand the assignment for how to be an ace in today's MLB.

But that is also the beauty of Bryan Woo, isn't it?

Whereas Woo was merely a cult hero coming into the 2025 season, he's made everyone else catch the hype train by going old school. He's pitched at least six innings in all 24 of his starts, five more than any other starter.

Further, the Mariners observed that the 25-year-old Woo is the first pitcher to ever do that and walk two or fewer batters in all 24 outings out of the gate:

What is Woo's motivation? If you want to hear it from him directly, mainly pride.

Bryan Woo is a hard-working, fastball-loving pitcher from another era

Woo is the featured subject of a new article by Tyler Kepner of The Athletic, which mainly extols the right-hander's uncommon knack for efficiency. For Woo, it all works toward the main point of his job: working deep into games.

“I don’t think it’s talked about enough now with pitching — going deep into games and innings,” Woo told Kepner. “A lot of it’s just about strikeouts and velo and all that stuff. Being a workhorse is something that’s hard to quantify beyond innings, but I think the team feels it, the staff feels it, the coaches, the bullpen. It’s something that I take pride in.”

It is not exactly a revelation that starters don't work as deep into games as they used to, but the numbers tell a remarkable story all the same. Even as recently as 2010, the typical start lasted 6.0 innings. Now it's 5.2 innings, meaning Woo's standard has gone from merely average to exceptional in less than two decades.

Just as starters don't really go deep anymore, they also just don't rely on fastballs anymore. When it comes to four-seamers and sinkers, specifically, they now account for less than half of all offerings (47.1 percent) since peaking at 57.7 percent back in 2009.

But then there's Woo. He just chucks his four-seamer and sinker up there at an average of 95.5 mph and forces hitters to come up with answers that, at least so far, they don't have:

• Fastball Percentage: 72.4, 1st among SP
• Fastball Run Value: +25, 1st among SP/RP

There actually is a pitcher who throws more pitches in the strike zone than Woo, so shoutout to Washington Nationals righty Jake Irvin for being that guy. But Woo is second with a zone rate of 58.1 percent, well ahead of the league-wide rate of 52.6 percent for starters.

Yours truly is about to show his age, but Woo's 2025 season evokes memories of Jason Schmidt from back in 2003 when he was with the San Francisco Giants. He had a similar "Here it is, hit it" approach with his 95-plus fastball, and it led to a sub-1.00 WHIP, an ERA in the 2.00s and, ultimately, a second-place finish in the Cy Young Award voting.

Woo already has the sub-1.00 WHIP and his ERA is nearly in the 2.00s at 3.02. It could cross the threshold as soon as Friday night, when he'll take on the Athletics at T-Mobile Park in the opener of a three-game series.

The A's are 11 games under .500, but a solid 33-33 on the road. They're also rolling offensively, posting a 122 wRC+ and 51 home runs in the second half so far. Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers have become an especially terrifying duo, combining for 239 wRC+ and 25 homers since the break.

The Mariners know from a season-opening split at home just how tough the A's can be away from Sacramento. They also need to get their own offense going, which only has a .718 OPS in August despite the "Great things await!" hype that accompanied the arrivals of Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez at the trade deadline.

And yet, Woo is just the guy to take some pressure off the offense. Beyond being a remarkable pitcher just in general, he's one with a 2.39 ERA at home and a 2.36 ERA in nine career starts against the A's.

The goal for the Mariners either way is the same. After losing five in a row and seven out of eight during a road trip from Hell, they need to put at least one W back on the books and go from there.

Game Times and Probable Pitchers for Athletics vs. Mariners, August 22-24

• Friday, August 22 at 7:10 p.m. PT: Luis Morales vs. Bryan Woo
• Saturday, August 23 at 6:40 p.m. PT: Jeffrey Springs vs. George Kirby
• Sunday, August 24 at 1:10 p.m. PT: Jacob Lopez vs. Logan Gilbert