Bryce Miller And Bryan Woo Have SAVED The Mariners Rotation

we got to talk about Bryce Miller and Brian woo we have kicked this segment down the road so far now because it feels like every time we want to talk about these guys breaking news comes up the Randy trade happens it's got service firing happens there's all these things going on and on the mirors have an awful road trip where it's like nobody's going to want to hear about a positive story because that's not the main story but finally we can highlight these dudes because they deserve it man they have been awesome all year in the second half and when we said they had to take a step forward in the latter half of the season for the Mariners to have a chance they've done that let me put this into context a little bit regarding how they've stepped forward versus the Mariners rotation I think Bryce Miller and Brian wo have taken big step bigger steps forward in year two than the other two Mariners developed arms in this rotation in Logan Gilbert and George Kirby in terms of improvement I think they've improved more than those two did in their years one to two that's that like that's really what we're talking about and I think no one epitomizes that more than I'd say like Bryce does like Bryce had a lot to work on last year but he's turned it around this year and he has been underratedly one of the best pitchers in the American League coming here down the stretch so let's let's put a little bit more context behind this you and I highlighted the last time we hosted Brock Brock Anda that Bryce Miller and Brian Wood had to P pitch better down the stretch the Mariners to have a chance at the playoffs well they've been one of the main reasons why the Mariners still have a chance at the playoffs listen to these August stats for these two Bryce is running out a 222 erra in a little over 28 innings in August 34 strikeouts to just four walks 175 206 330 line now Brian woo has A9 erra in the month of August 34 Innings 31 strikeouts three walks in a 164 190 238 slash line it's pretty insane for guys who I mean at this time of year could be running into a wall or peing actually so let's put that into even a little bit more context you said Bryce Miller's August ER is 222 in July it was 180 in other words he's had an unreal second half his second half ER last year was 460 460 now Brian woo his second half ra 165 right now 165 his second half ra last year 458 so you're talking about two guys that have gone from essentially 46 eras in the second half in their rookie year to basically both close to sub two Woo's below two Bryce is right about there that that's pretty remarkable for year one and year two development for two guys that were in high draft picks we talked about the fact last year Bryce Miller just isn't going to be able to get away with two pitches for much longer we said about this time last year he has to add something in the offseason well he did and we can get to that but just talking about the lack of hitting the wall for each of these guys now in year two it's been it's been the biggest Difference Maker in this rotation really just like they've been the two most consistent guys here in the second half in this rotation which it's crazy to think about in that case so let I want to go one pit one piture by one picture so we get each guy give each guy a proper amount of time I didn't even realize this looking at Bryce's Savant page he's up to throwing seven pitches now on the season he threw seven pitches in his last start and I saw a little this highlighted online and I was digging into it a little more and I agree with this sentiment is that Bryce Miller's last start which you made on Monday you make it on Monday or Tuesday whichever day against the rise it was struck out 10 over seven Innings seven shot uh no seven with allowed one run threw just 91 pitches so the efficiency was there as well he threw all seven of his pitches in that start and was able to get out pitches on his fast ball his splitter and his knuckle curve and his knuckle curve in case you're not familiar he added that pitch and has thrown it a lot more over the last two months and it's really helped him out to sort of balance having an out pitch versus righties versus having versus lefties because Bryce's combo against lefties is fastball splitter his combo against righties is fastball knuckle ball and that's big we thought the splitter would be sort of a a buyout pitch like he could get both righties and lefties out on that pitch without really much of an issue but once adding the knuckle curve and making the the adjustment to splitter that he did where he said he wanted to instead of letting it sort of float arms side he was going to bring it back over the plate and just try and throw it right at that Bottom Rung in the strike Strike Zone it has paid immense dividends for Bryce Miller and he looks all of a sudden like one of the most complete pitchers in this rotation in terms of everything he offers his only thing is pitching on the road which is why Lyall this upcoming road trip is so huge for Bryce he's got two Road starts coming up on this 10 game Road Trip so he's got to go out there and I I'm I'm hoping based on some of these tweaks he's made here in the second half with the knuckle curve and the splitter that he goes out there and he pitches much better on the road because eventually someone is going to need to defeat this narrative that this pitching staff can't pitch outside of T-Mobile park because the numbers suggest something otherwise if you actually look at it Starter by starter there are a couple guys that can pitch well on the road in this rotation woo pitches pretty well on the road I believe Logan pitches pretty well on the road yeah I think I think Kirby and Bryce are the two that really struggle away from T-Mobile I can double check that here while we're while we're talking but I believe it's those two that really struggle and it's Logan and Brian that have had some success but yes Bryce Miller specifically it's been pretty well highlighted his career ER inside T-Mobile Park is 279 and on the road it's 495 it's it's a pretty drastic difference Bryce Miller is not a perfect pitcher yet I don't know if the perfect pitcher even exists but Bryce Miller's not totally there yet again he's still has to pitch better on the road he's still getting hit pretty hard but you know what Logan Gilbert got hit pretty hard early on in his career and then eventually started to figur it out a little bit he he cut he cut it down a little now similar to Logan Bryce may just give up home runs in his career it may just be a part of his game with his fastball usage but that doesn't mean his hard hit rate can't go down over time so there are things for Bryce Miller to still improve on as time goes on but for guy that's in year two it's been pretty remarkable what he's been able to do and now the next step to your point is can he go out on the road and look like he has looked at home because if he can especially during this stretch where they need every win they can get it's going to be another telling sign how about this rotation and their ability to just not walk guys like Bryce early in the season walked a ton of batters uh in 53 three and a third Innings here in the last two months he's walked five batters it's like him and him and woo have essentially just quit on walking batters it's pretty crazy the ability to like Bryce filled up the Zone pretty well last year too but now he's doing it while getting having a more efficient swing and Miss profile as well which is right man it's impressive and it leasts to a couple of things that like are just like like something you wouldn't if you're not a mariner fan you might not know this Bryce Miller is fourth in Major League Baseball in whip in all of baseball it's it goes Logan Gilbert first Tyler gln now second Terk scoel third so three pretty good pitchers and then Bryce Miller is Fourth of that group fewest base runner earned base runners allowed per inning essentially is what whip is but here's the other just one that might just go over your head he has the most starts in baseball of six shutout it's wild you wouldn't think of that wild no you would think somebody like Logan would just simply have more but it's Bryce Miller it's pretty good in fact it's really good man like and there are so many things he's he's really taken steps forward with this year I mean in addition to everything we've already mentioned to focus in on a splitter a little bit more let's say this again how many times did we harp on in the second half of last year look Bryce Miller isn't just going to add a pitch midseason you can't do it nobody can for the most part this off season he's probably going to need to devote time to finding a third pitch he did well now he has seven but the real third pitch is this splitter what has it done this year Well opponents are hitting 165 against it they're slugging 256 and the expected batting average on it 192 so Bryce Miller in offseason has said look I have the two pitches I've got to find something else I have to find something to neutralize lefties and keep guys a little more off balance because I just can't throw this many fast balls well he's found it it's been an awesome pitch the Run value speaks for itself on it too and guys don't hit it so shout out to you Bryce Miller because clearly clearly you had a plan for this off season you attacked it and it's working because now you're Ops against lefties once upon a time it was over 900 a year ago for the season over 900 and that was a narrative around Bryce Miller is is you can't you just can't do that in like in year two it's it's too drastic well lefties have started to hit him a little bit harder as of late but overall for the year his Ops against lefties 699 he he has totally neutralized lefties and that Mark is perfectly reasonable manageable I'd even call it a pretty good Mark for the most part he is not letting lefties destroy him anymore righy still don't hit him at all their Ops is 500 but he has really kept lefties in check this year and a lot of that has to do with the splitter usage here's the last note on Bryce Miller and I want everyone to keep this in mind when you watch him here over the final month of this season he is now officially in Uncharted Territory Innings wise he is a third of an inning past his mark from last season so every out he gets from here on out is a mark he has yet to cross in his life Innings countwise so just keep that in mind there could be a wall here for Bryce Miller in terms of durability I hope there's not the Mariners playoff hopes can like hinge on him not hitting a wall would certainly help a lot the pitching is what is carrying this team but I just want people to keep that in mind as Bryce goes into this month now for the next guy Lyall that's not going to be the case he could have a month similar to what he just had and then he would just reach his mark from last season right and that would be Brian woo 20 seconds before we get to woo just to answer the question about pitcher by pitcher in terms of Road ER so Logan and Kirby actually have both been at about midg ground now given how their last couple of starts have each gone on the road so Logan's Road is now 381 for the year and Kirby's is 392 so yeah paired with Bryce Miller being close to five this rotation as a whole just has to pitch better on the road it's great you pitch well at home but it's got to be a little bit better than that on the road especially in this final month anyway right Brian woo has pitched amazing on the road but to look at him as a whole again we talked about it just a couple minutes ago a year ago his second half Ra was 458 now it sits at 165 where do you want to start with this guy I mean you know I love watching Brian woo he's my favorite guy in the rotation to watch Pitch where do we even want to start do honestly can we just start with the walks the fact he is actually walking less batters than George Kirby the fact he is legitimately for the guy who's been tabbed as the king of not walking guys the king of command and George Kirby Brian woo for a guy that actually walked a fair amount of hitters a year ago now it's just decided I don't walk anybody anymore he's in the 99th percentile of the league in walk rate it's crazy well where I actually wanted to start is where I say I was wrong oh you were wrong start three he could start game three wow it's like music to the ears it's almost like I know ball as as what's his name as as Roman would say acknowledge me so the walks are incredible I got it right yeah w oh yeah I deserve a round of applause especially after the fact you dropped an F bomb on me the first time I dropped that take saying I was crazy and then a bunch of people online said the same thing yeah I do deserve my flowers on this well but I'm glad you pat yourself on the back and buy yourself a gold medal or something that sounds nice congratulations I will Pat myself on the back anyway go ahead so the walks are pretty insane um it's also like I just can't get over his fast balls just can't it like this physically should not be possible what he's doing with his fast balls throws his two fast balls 75% of the time and the combined slugs under like under 300 that's insane when we highlighted when Luis Castillo first got here and we highlighted his insane fastball usage he was not throwing it 75% of the time you know when you throw a pitch 75% of the time The Hitter usually has a pretty good idea of what's coming and you still can't hit it he can't do any damage on that pitch that's pretty insane when we talked about his whip numbers he would be first in baseball in whip if he was qualified and the Mariners would have three of the top five starters in baseball when it comes to walks and hits per Innings pitch which I think is insane but there's just no better Indi like no better success story of the Mariners pitching development than there is a BRI W like it just continues to amaze like what they have managed to find with some of this scouting and the development within their organization like Brian W was not good in college he was not good not a good pitcher he would you know as a this isn't a compliment for Brian woo but L will get this joke he would have fit right in on the ASU baseball pitching staff in college D perfect but Brian woo has come to the big leagues and he has been unbelievable and the biggest knock on him and the reason I refuse to say he should start game three I'm like well he doesn't pitch deep enough into games well he just pitched the most Innings he has in August of any month of his career in 34 Innings he has pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last five starts right after I said that he does that so he's essentially going like this to me yeah yeah you were looking down so I needed to make sure you're doing it in case you're just listening I was uh flipping ly the double bird and moving up and down yes so that's what Brian woo thinks about me saying he can't pitch deep into games yeah Blake Snell guess what you guys are familiar with the Blake Snell quote where he's like don't doubt me about pitching deep into games well that was Brian will to the Marine lir podcast or half of them half of the Pod oh yeah oh it's half some people on this podcast said I want Brian W starting game three no matter what and like I said I'm getting my flowers now you know what I actually want to Circle back to because to your point yeah Brian woo cowply product had Tommy John surgery in college sixth round pick College numbers were not great he was mostly a reliever honestly in college but clearly the Mariners loved his stuff and for good reason you know what I want to Circle back to here for a second so Trent blank who is on the Mariners pitching staff on the big league staff he said that what's his technical role major league pitching coordinator is that what it is here that sounds right he is yeah um director of pitching strategy I think that's what it is okay close enough any yeah so anyway he said at one point uh Goldie Aaron Goldsmith brought this up on a broadcast last year he said that when they were scouting Brian woo and doing everything for the draft back in 2021 their whole evaluation process apparently Trent blank likes Brian woo so much he would have taken him with the number one pick in the draft despite the awful numbers he had in college and I'm the reason I was looking away when you were given me and everybody the double bird is because I wanted to check something here The 2021 draft I'm looking at the first round all of a sudden and I'm sitting here saying does Trent does Trent blank actually know ball and obviously he knows ball because he's great at his job and is a huge reason this rotation been Henry Davis right so let let's go down the list really quick here here's some of the high-end first round pitchers in that draft Jack lighter went two well we know how that's gone so far yeah Jackson Joe win three now his upside is actually supposed to be very good we'll see what he does as a big leager but he has not pitched in the big leagues yet so we'll see Frank mazak went seven to the Royals he's been awful in the minor leagues you keep going down the list Sam at nine to the angels in a classic Angels pick the guy's now a reliever and he's not even a very good reliever Kumar rocker went 10 to the Mets he is not a New York Met he didn't even sign and he's still not in the big leagues with the with the Rangers either Andrew painer went 13 again his his upside is good but he hasn't pitched in the big leagues yet obviously his ceiling is very very high and he has a chance to be really good with the Phillies but we'll see will Bednar goes 14 keep going down in this draft Michael McGreevy goes 18 gunar hogland goes 19 Jordan Wicks goes 21 he hasn't been great in the big league so far Gavin Williams goes 23 now he's been pretty good for the guardians but Ryan cusk goes 24 Chase Petty went 26 Maddox Bruns goes 29 to the Dodgers the the point of this is I don't think you can definitively say any of those guys have been better than Brian woo I honestly like I'll just put my stamp on it none of those guys guys have been better than Brian Woo's been especially with what he's done this year so that all goes back to the point now would it have looked absolutely crazy at the time to see Brian woo go in the top five of the draft not that the Mariners had a top five pick but still the Mariners had taken Brian woo in that first round at 14 over Harry Ford or 12 I'm sorry over Harry Ford people would have been like what is going on but they clearly saw something they clearly loved something they got them at great value and now I mean his upside is just so insane so insane so again I'm sure that story was supposed to be a little bit of an exaggeration because obviously in in when it all came down to it Scott Hunter the entire draft team Jerry Justin did not say we're taking Brian woo in the first round but point is this M's pitching group looked at him said oh yeah we've got something here and they were absolutely right so what about him though in August what like what has allowed him to continue to take this step L the the story is great but in reality you know it's the combination of those two fast balls but we we talked a little bit similar to Bryce that he needed a second Pitch and he had his change up he threw it 4% of the time last season and it's been up and down usage wise this year he so it it's interesting Brian W's two best months of the year was the first month he came back in May that's the first month he was back and then in August those were his two best pitch month of the pitch two best ER months of the year uh and he coincident coincidence or not it was the two months he threw his change up the most so he threw it 9% in may he threw it 12% in August which is the highest percent he's ever thrown his change up in a month and it's important because we talk about neutralizing lefties and Brian Mo struggled with lefties last year when he gets a chance to throw that pitch more like it is very effective he showed allowed just a 195 slug on that pitch run values three and it it's it's a pitch he almost exclusively throws to lefties 23% of the time so if you match up the percentages it's 75% fast ball 23% change up to lefties it works out and worked out right and it's been it's effective for him it's that it's that third pitch that you know righties can't do anything on his fast ball lefties have a better better chance against it that's why he needs to change up so it's good it's good to see that pitch coming in Along coming along I'm curious if he throws a little bit more than that but it's good development lefties don't have that much better a chance you want to talk about the ops's again Brian woo after getting crushed by lefties last year another guy who had a 900 Ops facing lefties 517 opponents left left-handed batters putting up a 517 Ops against Brian woo righties are putting up a 418 Ops so yes by by technical definition lefties have a better chance but yeah this guy this guy's insane and and the change up usage usage is so crucial because as great as those fast balls are at some point yeah you still need the third pitch and he didn't throw that change up much last year he threw it less than 4% of the time and when he was throwing it it it wasn't all that effective now all of a sudden it's much closer to the 10% range and it's very effective I mean I and I still think one of his breaking balls at some point in time here also has a chance to be a really good pitch Because the actual pure shape and stuff of it is really good I was reading an article last year and over the winter too I went back and read it on pitcher list just about how unique Brian Woo is so come year three maybe one of his breaking balls also has the chance to take a real step forward because he's so early on in his career he hasn't even come close to 200 Big League innings yet so he's got so much time ahead of him and this is what he's already done it's pretty wild super exciting and the Mariners are very appreciative of of these performances uh here in August because you know Logan Gilbert and George Kirby have had their bumps this month so of Luis Castillo these two it's been steady let me make one more point because for those who didn't hear Cal Raleigh went on mookie bets's podcast recently and they actually spent some time talking about Brian woo and mookie bets future Hall of Famer mookie bets slam dunk Hall of Famer is sitting there talking about Brian woo and he's like that guy is nasty bets is sitting there saying you're looking at his fastball it's there it's there it's there and then all of a sudden it isn't it just isn't there that's basically how Muki described it it moves like crazy and Cal said he has a chance to be really really special and kind of like I know I've talked more about the stories here than the numbers of Lou and you spend some time on the numbers but Cal was talking about how when woo kind of had that bump in the road middle of the Year where he kept having these minor injuries flare up on them they talked about Cal said like this has been written about I believe Cal talked about it on the podcast a little bit that they sat and had a very real conversation about I think your preparation as a big leager it has been good so far but it it's got to change a little bit you got to be willing to adapt a little bit because it can be even better and as a big leager you just have to get used to adapting and changing some of your routines in order to continue finding success and as we all know Cal has the utmost respect of not just everybody on the team but certainly everybody in the rotation W took that seriously and since that time that is right when he started going on this stretch of going over six innings seven Innings Etc and just dominating opponents it's it's made a big difference so shout out to Cal righ and all this too but Brian Woo's uh acceptance of understanding he needs to change some things and develop like change his routine and process a little bit more just another thing that's helped him take a step forward so pretty cool