No. 5 prospect Woo continues strong showing in Majors

SEATTLE -- Bryan Woo shouted into his glove after unleashing his final pitch of the night, a moment of frustration that marred an otherwise brilliant start.

Woo had just surrendered a solo homer to Andrew Benintendi, the first of the year from the White Sox outfielder and the second of the game from Woo, who came one out shy of completing the sixth inning in an eventual 3-2 win.

As Scott Servais reached the mound, the Mariners manager calmed Woo -- Seattle’s No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline -- and reminded him that all was not lost and to focus on the positives from what, to this point, had been the best of his three big league starts. His 20 strikeouts through his first three outings trail only Felix Hernandez’s 21 through that many to begin a Mariners career.

“It’s huge,” Woo said. “He’s been awesome about giving me a good perspective in terms of looking at the positives of the outing and building off the stuff that I may not be as happy about. All things considered, just being able to take away that I did my job tonight and put us in a position to win the game. And that’s what’s most important.”

Woo generated 18 whiffs, which led to nine strikeouts, and he surrendered only two other hits beyond Benintendi’s big blast, the other being a solo homer to Gavin Sheets in the fifth. The four-seam fastball looked as advertised, but the slider was as good as it's been since he debuted on June 3 in Arlington.

“I'm just being more aggressive with it, trusting it, committing to throwing it -- not really like babying it, not trying to shape it, just throwing it and trusting how it's going to come out,” Woo said. “[Mariners pitching coach Pete Woodworth] has been pretty good about just kind of giving me confidence on how good it is and just continuing to trust it.

The two-seam fastball also looks like a real weapon.

“I like the combination of his four-seam and two-seam fastball, his two-seam fastball just explodes,” Servais said. “It’s the best stuff he’s had. He keeps getting better every time he goes out there. He landed the slider early in the game. He used it throughout the game with the combination of his fastballs. And he does it so effortlessly.”

The Mariners will continue to monitor Woo’s workload, particularly given that he’s at 56 1/3 innings, just shy of the 57 he reached last year, when he made his pro debut after recovering from Tommy John surgery during his Draft year in ‘21. But he’ll continue to hold the rotation spot of Marco Gonzales while the lefty recovers from a forearm strain, and he’s still balancing the player development component to his routine.

“I think now that I'm here, it's making sure that I am trusting my stuff and committing to it,” Woo said. “I'm going to get better throughout the week in between starts, but once we get to start day, it's just get after it.”

Triple-A Tacoma
Mason McCoy entered Sunday swinging one of the hotter bats in the Pacific Coast League, going 6-for-17 on the Rainiers homestand against Albuquerque.

Outfielder Zach DeLoach (No. 25 prospect) extended his on base safely streak to 31 games on Friday.

Infielder Jake Scheiner currently ranks top four in the PCL in homers (17), extra-base hits (32), runs scored (53) and RBIs (56). And his 17 homers lead all Mariners Minor Leaguers.

Double-A Arkansas
Jonatan Clase (No. 11) cooled some on the Travelers’ homestand against Corpus Christi, going just 2-for-18. But he entered the week as the only Minor Leaguer with at least 15 homers and 25 stolen bases.

Righty Emerson Hancock (No. 3) threw a season-high seven innings, giving up just five hits and three earned runs in what was maybe his best outing this season.

High-A Everett
Catcher Harry Ford (No. 1) went 1-for-19 in the Aqua Sox’s road series at Tri-City, dropping his slash line for the year to .248/.409/.411 (.821 OPS). He crushed his eighth homer last Sunday to wrap the homestand.

Single-A Modesto
The Mariners quickly promoted Michael Arroyo (No. 10) from the Arizona Complex League after he went 7-for-11 with a homer and five RBIs. He’s gone 5-for-17 with a homer since joining the Nuts.