Bryan Woo Opts Out of WBC to Focus on 2026 Season: “Just Trying to Be Smart About It”
PEORIA, Ariz. - Bryan Woo had a chance to pitch on one of baseball’s biggest international stages. Team USA came calling for the World Baseball Classic, and the Mariners' rising right-hander turned them down.
Not because he didn’t want to represent his country - far from it. But as Woo put it, multiple times in one conversation: he’s just trying to be smart.
That phrase - “be smart” - is more than just a soundbite. It’s become a guiding principle for Woo as he enters what could be a defining season in his young career. After a breakout 2025 campaign that saw him become Seattle’s lone All-Star starter, Woo is focused on one thing: staying healthy and building on what he started.
“I would have loved to do it,” Woo said of the WBC invite. “But I just wanted to be smart about mostly the workload jump from '24 to '25.
You add early games, early preparation, early high-stress innings - my goal is to be throwing 200-plus innings and make all my starts. Like, that's a big jump to do this year.”
And that jump is no small thing. Woo’s innings total soared last season, and while the results were impressive - 186 2/3 innings, 198 strikeouts, a 2.94 ERA, and a WHIP under 1.00 - the toll was real.
He missed nearly a month late in the year and didn’t return until the ALCS. That absence stung, especially given how deep Seattle’s playoff run went.
“I definitely was disappointed with just how that whole season ended,” Woo said. “I would have obviously loved to contribute more to the team in the postseason, and that definitely hurt. So you learn from it, but you also kind of take it as motivation leading on to the next year.”
Woo’s decision to pass on the WBC is just one example of how seriously he’s taking 2026. He’s been in Arizona for weeks already, getting a head start on Spring Training.
Aside from a quick trip to watch the Seahawks in the Super Bowl, it’s been all business. He’s already throwing bullpens and touching 95 mph - right on schedule, if not a little ahead.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson mentioned the team may ease Woo into Cactus League games, not because of any health concerns, but simply to manage his ramp-up and workload. He made five spring starts last year, and that seems like a reasonable target again. The club has four off-days in April, which gives them some flexibility to stagger his starts early, just as they did last season when he slotted in as their No. 4 and got extra rest until early May.
“Some of the same approach will be taken this year with it,” Wilson said. “I think, again, he's in a really good spot.”
That’s a spot Woo has worked hard to earn. It wasn’t long ago that he was a sixth-round Draft pick out of Cal Poly, recovering from Tommy John surgery and flying under the radar.
He wasn’t part of USA Baseball’s amateur pipeline. He didn’t get the blue-chip offers out of high school.
He walked on in college. And now?
He’s a legitimate Opening Day candidate for a Mariners team with postseason expectations.
Even with the late-season injury, Woo led Seattle’s rotation in innings, strikeouts, WHIP, and ERA. He posted a 128 ERA+, meaning he was 28% better than league average - and did it while clearing six innings in each of his first 25 starts, setting a franchise record. That kind of consistency is rare in today’s game, and it’s part of why Woo is prioritizing long-term durability over short-term accolades.
The WBC, with its playoff-level intensity right out of the gate, would’ve thrown a wrench into that plan. Woo understands the honor that comes with wearing the USA jersey. But he also knows his body, his history, and the demands of a 200-inning season.
“If I had a couple of years where I was consistently healthy and with a consistent workload, and all that stuff was much more stable, it'd be a different situation, I think,” Woo said. “But yeah, like I said, just trying to be smart about it.”
For Woo and the Mariners, that mindset might be the smartest play of all.