Mariners' Bryan Woo to begin season on IL due to elbow inflammation

Mariners GM Justin Hollander spoke to reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times) Monday evening and provided medical updates on several players. Most notably, Hollander revealed that right-hander Bryan Woo will open the season on the injured list due to elbow inflammation. Hollander added that Woo underwent an MRI which showed no damage to Woo’s UCL. 

Joining Woo on the injured list to open the season is outfielder Sam Haggerty, who the GM (as relayed by Divish) noted is dealing with a personal medical issue not related to baseball.

Hollander compared Woo’s current ailment to a bout of forearm inflammation that sent him to the shelf last August. Woo ended up missing just over two weeks due to that issue, a fact that potentially indicates the young right-hander could be slated for a similarly minimal absence this time around as well. 

Hollander noted that the club hopes the inflammation will have faded in seven to 10 days, at which point Woo would be able to resume throwing.

Even a short absence for Woo is an unfortunate turn of events for Seattle. The 24-year-old righty made his MLB debut with the club last season and made 18 starts in the big leagues, pitching to a roughly league average 4.21 ERA with a 4.36 FIP in 87 2/3 innings of work. 

While Woo paired a solid 25.1% strikeout rate with an 8.4% walk rate, he saw a hefty 13.4% of his fly balls leave the yard for home runs last year. That proclivity toward the long ball limited Woo’s ability to establish himself as a mid-rotation starter, though even if he were to fail to take a step forward he’s shown the ability to be a quality back-end arm for a Mariners team loaded with controllable pitching talent.

With Woo set to begin the season on the shelf, Seattle figures to turn to right-hander Emerson Hancock to take the fifth spot in the rotation behind Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller. 

Hancock, the sixth-overall pick from the 2020 draft and a former consensus top-50 prospect in the sport, also made his big league debut last season. In a trio of starts with the Mariners, the right-hander posted a decent 4.50 ERA with a 4.09 FIP. He struck out six while walking three across his 12 innings of work. 

That cup of coffee in Seattle is Hancock’s only experience above the Double-A level, where he owns a career 3.99 ERA and 24.1% strikeout rate in 210 innings across 44 starts.

As for Haggerty, the loss of the switch-hitter to open the season could have an impact on the club’s bench mix. Since arriving in Seattle after being claimed off waivers from the Mets prior to the 2020 season, the 29-year-old has posted roughly league average offensive numbers in four years as a reserve outfielder with the Mariners. 

He’s done particularly well the past two seasons, slashing a solid .255/.345/.382 with a 111 wRC+ in a combined 135 games with the club.

While Haggerty’s switch-hitting bat and ability to handle all three outfield spots and even the right side of the infield on occasion have made him a valuable bench piece for Seattle in recent years, the Mariners appear well equipped to handle his absence. 

Julio Rodriguez is locked into center field on an everyday basis as the club’s star player, and with the likes of Mitch Haniger, Dylan Moore, Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone vying for playing time at the outfield corners, Haggerty was at risk of being squeezed off the roster even prior to the injury.

In addition to the IL announcements, Hollander also provided an update on the status of right-hander Gregory Santos, who is nursing a lat strain that will keep him off the roster to open the 2024 campaign. Divish relays that Santos is scheduled to undergo an MRI later this week. If said testing comes back clean, Santos will then resume his throwing program. 

It’s a welcome update for a Mariners club that is expected to be without two high-leverage relievers in Santos and right-hander Matt Brash to open the season. Free agent addition Ryne Stanek and southpaw Gabe Speier figure to set up for right-handed flamethrower Andres Munoz while Santos and Brash are out of action.