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Luis Castillo started strong for the Seattle Mariners with a six-inning shutout against the Yankees but has since struggled, failing to complete four innings in his last two starts against the Angels and Astros.
What Can Seattle Mariners Expect From Luis Castillo Moving Forward?
On March 30, Seattle Mariners starter Luis Castillo delivered a six-inning gem against the New York Yankees at a frigid T-Mobile Park.
Castillo gave up just three hits while walking two and striking out seven. He gave up no runs as the Mariners won 2-1 on a walk-off hit from Cal Raleigh.
Since then, he's struggled. He failed to make it out of the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Angels, giving up three earned runs. He then failed to make it out of the fourth against the Houston Astros, giving up seven earned runs on 10 hits.
On Thursday against the San Diego Padres, he battled through 5.1 innings, but still gave up four runs (one earned) on seven hits. He walked three.
For the season, he's 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA. He's struck out 17 batters in 18.1 innings, but the outings are looking more laborious, and I think it's fairly clear that we just need to accept a new reality.
Luis Castillo, aged 33, is no longer the ace pitcher that the Mariners acquired in the 2022 season. That might seem obvious, but should we expect moving forward?
We discussed it on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose' podcast:
"I don't believe Luis Castillo needs to be removed from the starting rotation. I certainly don't believe he needs to be removed from the starting rotation yet. But I think we're seeing kind of what Luis Castillo is now. Not necessarily a guy that's bad, but a guy that you can't necessarily count on anymore to do anything more than fill innings or, or hope to get through five and still be in the game...
In his game against the Yankees, Luis Castillo pitched six innings, allowed three hits, walked two batters, struck out seven, and gave up no runs.
After the Yankees match, Luis Castillo struggled, failing to complete four innings in games against the Angels and Astros, giving up three and seven earned runs respectively.
Luis Castillo's inconsistent performance could significantly affect the Mariners' pitching rotation and their chances of winning games moving forward.
Mariners fans can expect Castillo to work on his recent struggles, hoping he can return to form and provide consistent innings in upcoming games.

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At this point, Luis Castillo, you could clearly see it on Thursday, he's out there trying to survive at the moment. He's out there trying to throw the kitchen sink at guys because he thinks, and they (the Mariners) think, he has to in order to get through. Luis Castillo is not just a 'fastball guy' first time through, fastball/changeup second time through, fastball/slider third time through. He's not that guy. You saw him: fastballs, changeups, 2-seamers, right on right changeups, slider. Like, he's throwing the kitchen sink at guys in the first inning because I think he thinks that that's what it takes right now for him to get through.
And when you have to pitch that way, you're not gonna be able to go as deep into games because you're not hiding anything for the 6th or 7th inning. You're not withholding any information. These guys have seen everything on time one, so by the time they get to time two, they've kinda got you timed up and figured out.
I feel like with Luis Castillo, we're gonna have a handful of outings that fit in every bucket. Handful of outings where he goes 6 or 7 innings, and he's throwing a ton of strikes, and guys are hitting the ball, and they're hitting them right at people. And Luis Castillo goes six or seven and they're pretty solid innings. You're gonna have some games where Luis Castillo pitches just like this, right? He doesn't miss many bats. He throws more balls. More balls leads to more pitches. More pitches leads to more traffic. More traffic leads to more chances for damage. And all of a sudden, you got a four spot in one inning, and it's a crooked number, and it ends up being 5-plus innings, 3, 4 runs, not something that you can't win with, but something that can put you behind the 8-ball.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo (58) throws a pitch during the sixth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. David Frerker-Imagn Images
And somewhere down the line, there's gonna be an outing where Luis Castillo can't get out of the third because everything he's throwing is getting hit. We kinda saw that against the Astros. We kinda saw that against the Angels."
Castillo has been an excellent pitcher for the Mariners, but he's at the stage in his career where he can only be counted on for five, hopefully good innings. Anything above that is a bonus.
We talked more about Castillo's abilities and outlook on a bonus episode of the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast with ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney. You can listen to his thoughts here.
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