The Seattle Mariners starting rotation entered this season with one of the best starting rotations in the major leagues but had to fight through unexpected hurdles.

Four of the team's five starting pitchers experienced injuries that kept them out for various periods of time. One of those pitchers, Bryan Woo, helped the pitching staff through choppy waters before his own ailment to end the regular season.

Before the season began, 2024 All-Star and Opening Day starter Logan Gilbert expressed his belief that all pitchers on the team's rotation could be considered aces or Opening Day-caliber, and Woo proved that belief correct.

Here's the final grades on Woo's career-best season:

Bryan Woo by the numbers

Games started: 30

Pitching stats: 2.94 ERA, 15-7 Record, 186.2 IP, 198 SOs, 0.93 WHIP, 21 QS, .200 Opp. BA

What I liked

Woo was the only pitcher on the starting rotation to not start 30 or more games in 2024. This year, he was one of two Mariners starters to have 30 starts.

Since Woo made his major league debut in 2023, "potential" has been the word that has followed the former Cal Poly product. He shed that label in 2025 and became a legitimate ace.

Woo made the first All-Star Game of his career and posted single-season career bests in starts, strikeouts, innings pitched and quality starts while posting a sub-3.00 ERA with a sub-1.00 WHIP.

Woo's fastball remained one of the most dangerous offerings in major league baseball.

Woo had a fastball run value of 30, which ranked in the 100th percentile of baseball, according to Baseball Savant.

Woo was also one of the most efficient pitchers in baseball. He had a strikeout rate of 27.1% and a walk rate of 4.9%, which ranked in the 80th and 95th percentile in baseball, respectively. Woo allowed an opposing batting average of just .153 on 1,283 total offerings from his four-seam fastball.

Best games

There are several games that can be picked out of Woo's season as his best. His best showing was arguably his second-to-last start of the regular season against the Los Angeles Angels on Sept. 13.

Woo had been flirting with his career-high in single-game strikeouts for several games before the start against the Angels.

Woo matched his previous career-high with nine strikeouts five times in the regular season: against the Minnesota Twins on June 23; against the Texas Rangers on June 28; against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 5; against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 10 and against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 8.

In his outing against Los Angeles, Woo struck out 13, walked one and allowed two earned runs on three hits (one home run) in six innings pitched. It was his last quality start of the regular season.

Future prospects

Woo isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Woo will be under pre-arbitration in 2026. His name will likely be thrown out in trade rumors in mock packages whenever Seattle finds itself included among lists of potential high-end trade targets, but there's no incentive for the M's to move on from one of their youngest and most efficient starters.

If there's one thing to keep an eye out for Woo, it will be whether or not he can finish out an entire season.

The 25-year-old hurler made just 40 starts and had three stints on the injured list in 2023-24. He missed the last two series of the regular season this year and didn't make his postseason debut until the American League Championship Series due to right pectoral inflammation.

Final grade: A

Woo was one of the best pitchers in the AL the entire season. It wouldn't be a shock to see him receive votes on the Cy Young ballot.

The way Woo ended the postseason was disappointing considering the regular season he had. He made two appearances out of the bullpen in the ALCS and had a 6.23 ERA. He fanned two, walked three (one intentionally), hit a batter and allowed three earned runs on four hits in 4.1 innings pitched.

Injuries happen and it's unreasonable to hold that against Woo, especially considering how he was the team's most consistent pitcher the entire year to that point.

There's still one facet of Woo's game that can still improve: his secondary pitches.

Woo threw his slider, sweeper and changeup a combined 737 times compared to 1,977 offerings with his four-seam and two-seam fastballs.

All three of his off-speed offerings were solid and have an opportunity to get even better. He allowed opposing batting averages of .192, .186 and .235 and had whiff rates of 36.1%, 46.3% and 22.5% with his slider, sweeper and changeup, respectively.

If Woo can work in his secondary pitches more often and more consistently, he can make a jump from an All-Star pitcher to a legitimate Cy Young contender in 2026.

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