2 Factors Behind Struggles For Seattle Mariners' Bryan Woo

Bryan Woo put collectively a outstanding stretch of consistency for the Seattle Mariners final season.

The right-hander pitched at the least six innings in his first 25 begins, which included permitting three or fewer runs allowed 19 instances.

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Through his first 5 begins of this season, Woo confirmed related consistency, going at the least six innings 4 instances whereas permitting three or fewer runs in every begin.

His previous two begins, nevertheless, have featured some uncharacteristic struggles.

Woo allowed seven runs over simply three innings towards St. Louis on April 25, then he surrendered six runs over six innings towards Kansas City on Friday. It marked the primary time the 26 yr previous had given up at the least six runs in consecutive outings throughout his massive league profession. In whole, he allowed 13 runs, 16 hits and 6 dwelling runs over 9 innings between the 2 outings.

What’s led to Woo’s current struggles? Mariners analyst and former MLB pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith shared his reply to that query with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Monday.

Rowland-Smith sees it as a mix of how hitters are approaching Woo and lack of execution on the right-hander’s half.

He first pointed to how Woo and Mariners pitchers pound the strike zone. Four of the crew’s starters are within the prime 10 in MLB for first-pitch strikes thrown, three are within the prime 5 for general swing price by opposing hitters, and three are within the prime 10 for in-zone swing price by opposing hitters.

Woo is among the many Mariners’ pitchers who present up close to the highest of every class. He’s sixth in first-pitch strike price (68.1%), fourth in general swing price (53.3%) and third in in-zone swing price (76.9%).

“So the plan of attack (for the opposing team) is, well, if you’re going to be in the strike zone a ton, I’m coming up hacking. I’m swinging, swinging, swinging,” Rowland-Smith mentioned.

Batters swinging early and infrequently is nothing new to Woo. He produced the second-highest swing price and highest in-zone swing price in MLB final season.

The distinction Rowland-Smith sees is the standard of strikes Woo is throwing, notably with the sinker.

“If you look at a heat map from Bryan Woo… especially to lefties too, (it’s) sinker in the middle of the plate or he’s missing in,” Rowland-Smith mentioned. “He hasn’t quite got that feel for glove side with that sinker, that ball that kind of runs back out over the plate.”

Batters are hitting .316 with a .561 slugging proportion and three dwelling runs off Woo’s sinker this season. Last yr, they hit .258 with a .369 slugging proportion and 4 dwelling runs off the pitch.

“He hasn’t got that pitch. That was a separator last year,” Rowland Smith mentioned. “…When I’m watching Bryan Woo, the problem you run into if you are going to be in the strike zone a ton, the margin for error is so much less when they’re in swing mode.”

Hear the complete dialog at this link or within the audio participant on this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 pm or discover the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.