"I couldn't have made a better pitch, and Shohei Ohtani parked it 450 feet" – Bryan Woo reflects on his first experience facing Dodgers star

When it comes to pitchers in modern MLB, Bryan Woo is certainly regarded as one of the best. Although he has lost substantial time to injury this season, the 24-year-old has been fairly unstoppable when healthy.

In a recent appearance on Rob Friedman's podcast, the Seattle Mariners ace described the first game he played against Shohei Ohtani. According to Woo, Ohtani crushed a perfect delivery into the parking lot during their first meeting in June 2023:

"Heater up, good sweeper back foot, and then I went one even further, on my further back foot, and he put it in the parking lot. I couldn't have made a better pitch, and he parked in 450 feet down the line."

Ohtani was, at that time, playing for the Los Angeles Angels. Woo had made his MLB debut about 10 days prior to the home run. Despite being taken in the sixth round of the 2021 draft, Bryan Woo was soon regarded as one of the league's top pitching prospects and ended up striking out seven over 4.2 innings after surrendering the home run to Ohtani.

As a member of the Seattle Mariners this season, Woo has been even more dialed-in than in his rookie campaign of 2023. In 18 starts, the California-born pitching star is 8-3 with a 3.02 ERA, a WHIP of just 0.903, as well as 93 strikeouts in 116.1 innings of work.

"Bryan Woo's 2Ks in the 1st." - Rob Friedman

Although Ohtani's jack off of Woo in June 2023 was the first home run allowed of the pitcher's career, he has performed well against Ohtani ever since. In six at-bats, Shohei has three hits, and an intentional walk off of Bryan Woo.

Over a year after Ohtani's blast, Bryan Woo flirts with perfection

On September 12, Woo carried a perfect game into the seventh inning before Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres smashed a homer to end those hopes. After the game, Woo reflected:

"Like, you know what you're doing is special, if you just kind of stay in the moment. And credit to them. I mean, they put some good swings on some good pitches. And it is what it is. It's more just me wanting to finish the job, at least finish that inning.”

While few may have initially expected Woo to become such a strong pitcher, perhaps his early-career encounter with Shohei Ohtani had more to do with it than we think.