Mustangs in the Pros Update
9/18/2024 2:00:00 PM | Baseball
Thanks For The Respect Bryan Woo @BJW002! WOOOOO! @Mariners pic.twitter.com/Um7Lz9JhWE
— Ric Flair® (@RicFlairNatrBoy) September 12, 2024
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Bryan Woo earned three wins and a no-decision in his last four starts. Brooks Lee notched a career-high five RBIs on Sunday, three on his first Major League triple, and Jake Steels and Bryce Warrecker closed out their 2024 seasons with strong performances.
Those are the highlights of Cal Poly’s 19 former baseball players in the major and minor leagues this summer.
Seeking to make it four wins in his last five starts, Woo was roughed up by the New York Yankees on Tuesday night as he and the Mariners suffered an 11-2 loss at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
Entering the game with an 8-2 record and 2.38 ERA, Woo gave up seven runs and nine hits over 4 2/3 innings, suffering the loss despite logging seven strikeouts. His ERA jumped to 2.85, thanks in part to a two-run single and two-run double off the bat of Aaron Judge.
Seattle is five games behind Houston in the AL West standings and three games back of Minnesota for the third and final AL Wild Card spot.
Woo began his late-season run by tossing seven strong innings against San Francisco on August 25, allowing one earned run and four hits with seven strikeouts.
After a no-decision versus the Los Angeles Angels on August 31, the Alameda High School graduate struck out six while giving up two runs and eight hits in five innings as Seattle beat Oakland on Sept. 5.
Woo then retired the first 19 San Diego Padre batters Sept. 11 before Fernando Tatis Jr. belted a solo home run just inside the left-field foul pole. Woo allowed two runs and two hits with five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings, earning the victory.
"His ball was rising on a level I haven’t seen much,” Tatis said. “The guy has really good stuff. He was pounding the zone. His fastball was really alive, and he was making good pitches all the way from the beginning."
In that gem, Woo sported a pair of Nike teal-shaded cleats customed-made and gifted from "PitchingNinja" Rob Friedman. The kicks featured a cartoon of professional wrestling legend Ric Flair on the exterior of his right foot. In the same area on his left, Flair’s signature shouting phrase that also mirrors Woo’s name was plastered with two exclamation points.
“I really, really appreciate everything that he does for the game,” Woo told MLB.com writer Daniel Kramer. “And growing up, especially in college when he kind of got big, I learned so much from his stuff. And watching all of his interviews, watching all of his stuff, like, you get grips from this guy.
“As a pitcher, that's the stuff that you really, really appreciate -- like, truly growing the game and truly trying to help the next generation of getting better at pitching.”
After the homer, Woo surrendered a double to Jurickson Profar and then struck out Manny Machado. But it was a nine-pitch walk to Jake Cronenworth that ended his night.
The walk snapped a stretch of 107 consecutive batters without a walk dating back to Woo’s Aug. 19 start at Dodger Stadium. Woo, 8-3 with a 2.85 ERA in 20 starts this season, has issued just 11 walks over 110 1/3 innings with 89 strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Lee drove in five runs with a two-run single and a three-run triple in Minnesota’s win over Cincinnati on Sunday at Target Field.
“Hitting’s contagious. It always helps when there are guys on base,” said Lee, whose two-run single in the sixth gave the Twins the lead. “It’s fun with guys on base. I feel like you get more pitches to hit, there’s more chance for damage.”
Lee had said earlier in the week that his approach at the plate felt like it was “in the dumps” as he felt early to the ball and faulty in his pitch selections while mired in an 0-for-19 slump. He has continued to look the part at shortstop while his bat has woken up with four hits and nine RBIs in his last four games.
“He’s very comfortable out there, and you will trust him probably more than you’ll trust most young infielders that are coming up for the first time,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
In 41 games with the Twins this season, Lee is hitting .223 with four doubles, a triple, three home runs and 25 RBIs. He is hitting .286 at home and .176 on the road, compiled a .308 batting average in August and, with runners at first and third, second and third or the bases loaded this season, Brooks is hitting .538 (seven for 13).
Minnesota is 1 1/2 games ahead of Detroit and three games in front of Seattle for the third AL Wild Card spot.
Seattle outfielder Mitch Haniger is hitting .209 in 116 games this season. He has made 85 starts in the Mariners’ 151 contests and has 12 doubles, a dozen home runs and 44 RBIs to his credit.
Drew Thorpe, Cal Poly’s fourth Major Leaguer this season, underwent surgery Sept. 7 in San Francisco to shave down a bone spur in his right elbow. He expects to be ready for Spring Training in 2025.
Thorpe was 3-3 with a 5.48 ERA in nine starts for the Chicago White Sox this year.
Two other ex-Mustangs played briefly in the Major Leagues this year, equalling last year’s total.
Southpaw relief pitcher Justin Bruihl pitched in seven games for the Pittsburgh Pirates, posting a 9.53 ERA in early June, before he was sent back to Indianapolis, where he has compiled a 4.41 ERA in 16 appearances.
Spencer Howard, also a pitcher, was 1-1 with a 5.63 ERA in seven games with San Francisco in May and June and 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in two appearances on the mound for the Cleveland Guardians in July.
The Giants re-signed Howard to a free agent contract in early August and he returned to Sacramento a second time and recorded a pair of scoreless mound stints Sept. 3 (two innings, four strikeouts) Sept. 3 at Salt Lake and Sept. 10 (2 1/3 frames, three strikeouts) at Round Rock.
Howard is 3-3 with a 6.75 ERA in his two stints (20 games) for Sacramento this year, notching 80 strikeouts over 58 2/3 innings.
Steels, drafted in July by Atlanta, lifted his batting average at Augusta 64 points by going 5-for-15 (.333) in his last four contests of the 2024 season. He closed out the year with two singles against Delaware on Sept. 7 for a .231 average.
In his last two starts of 2024 at Tampa, Warrecker earned a win and a no-decision with a 2.79 ERA over 9 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs and four hits over five innings in a win over Bradenton on August 30 and one run and four hits in 4 2/3 innings in the no-decision versus Dunedin on Sept. 5.
Pitching for three teams in his first professional season this summer, Warrecker was 2-7 with a 5.79 ERA. He was drafted in July 2023 by the New York Yankees but did not pitch that summer.
Also …
• Lefty Andrew Alvarez was 8-9 with a 3.91 ERA and 104 strikeouts over 126 2/3 innings with two Minor League teams this summer. At Triple-A Rochester, he suffered the loss Tuesday against Iowa, allowing three runs and four hits over six innings with four walks and six strikeouts.
• Catcher Myles Emmerson, who hit .282 in July and .289 in August, finished with a .242 average in 35 games for the Rocket City Trash Pandas this summer.
• Pitcher Derek True was 3-7 with a 5.92 ERA for Fayetteville and Asheville this summer.
• Pitcher Erich Uelmen of the Triple-A Reno Aces did not allow an earned run in four consecutive relief appearances on the mound from August 23 through Sept. 5 until giving up one earned run Sept. 10 and four more on Sept. 15, both games at Sugar Land. He is 1-0 with a 5.96 ERA in 21 appearances on the mound.
Follow the progress of all former Mustangs in professional baseball by clicking the link at the top of the page.
