Emerson

Hancock

Presumably, that would begin on May 19. It wouldn’t be surprising it if also ends on May 19. The Mariners don’t want to disrespect Castillo, but the 33-year-old only held it together last year because of his home ballpark and that still hasn’t been enough this season with his career-worst 19 percent strikeout rate and 33 percent groundball rate. He has a 6.29 ERA through seven starts. At least this arrangement is good for Emerson Hancock, who no longer has to worry about his spot. Miller still figures to be quite useful in the long run.

The Mariners are playing 14 games in 14 days, so one time through with a six-man rotation shouldn’t hurt. After that, they’ll probably need to demote Luis Castillo or Emerson Hancock, with Castillo-to-the-bullpen seeming like the obvious move at this point. Miller has been showing the best velocity of his career in his return from an oblique injury. There’s no guarantee he’ll be effective right away against the Astros next week, but he should offer mixed-league value over the rest of the season.

The White Sox were all over Hancock in this one. Munetaka Murakami greeted him with a loud home run in the first inning and then after being spotted a 5-1 lead, Hancock gave it right back in a four-run third. Most of that damage came from a Colson Montgomery three-run double on a first-pitch fastball that was right down the middle. That fastball was hit hard overall despite being one of the key contributors to Hancock’s breakout so far this season. It was impressive to see him settle down enough to get through six frames despite those struggles and he’ll have a chance to get back on track against the Astros in Houston next time out.

Just a bit of a step forward for Hancock. His previous career high for strikeouts was nine, and he’d never topped seven prior to this season. He didn’t overwhelm with his 31 percent CSW tonight, but the Royals couldn’t string hits together while combining for eight total bases in seven innings. Hancock’s 2.59 ERA is going to force the Mariners to make a tough decision when Bryce Miller is activated. It seems clear now that Hancock would be the better choice than Luis Castillo for the fifth spot in their rotation. Hancock is slated to face the White Sox next.

The only runs Hancock allowed were on solo homers by Ryan Church in the sixth and JJ Wetherholt in the third. There was a good amount of hard contact against the right-hander, but he was able to limit the damage and kept Seattle in the game. Hancock now has a 2.86 ERA on the season, and he just may be earning a permanent spot in the Seattle rotation with how well he’s pitched. He’ll face the Royals on Saturday.

Hancock allowed all three runs via long ball, with the A’s hitting three solo homers off him. Two of them came in the sixth to turn what was another impressive outing into a mediocre one; one that we saw more often than not prior to 2026. Hancock didn’t walk anyone, but his command was nowhere near as good as it’s been in this first month of the season. He’ll look to get back going versus the Cardinals on Sunday.

Hancock departed with a four-run lead, but that wasn’t sufficient to get him a win. It was a nice night otherwise, as he threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of 23 batters. He had a subpar 22 percent CSW, but only six of the 16 balls in play against him were hard hit. He should fare well in a home start against the A’s next time out.

Hancock was given three runs to work with the first, but he quickly coughed up the lead in a three-run second. Fortunately, he was fine afterwards, and the Mariners got him some more help in the fifth. Hancock wound up with 12 whiffs and a fine 34-percent CSW with his fastball velocity up once again. He’s averaged 95.1 and 95.7 mph in his last two starts after coming in at 93.5 mph in his no-hit bid against the Guardians to open the season. He’s a middling mixed-league play next week against the Padres, but he could be a better option the following week while likely making a home start against the A’s and a road outing versus the Cardinals.

Hancock threw six no-hit innings against the Guardians in his last outing, and that was immediately off the table with a solo homer allowed to Zach Neto. He was mostly outstanding from that point on, and it’s nice to see that he averaged 95.1 mph with his fastball after it sat 93.5 in his previous outing. Hancock’s rotation spot is far from a lock with Bryce Miller expected back relatively shortly, but he’s done nothing to suggest he doesn’t deserve more turns in the rotation. He’ll get the Astros at home Friday.

It was actually kind of concerning to see Hancock’s velocity drop tonight. He averaged a much-improved 94.9 mph with his four-seamer last year and was up to 95.4 mph this spring, but he was down to 93.5 mph tonight. Nevertheless, the Guardians simply couldn’t touch him. Their one hard-hit ball turned into a double play. The remaining seven balls in play against him were five other groundouts and two popups. Between the velocity drop and the 24 percent CSW, it’s hard to be too excited about the showing tonight. Still, he’ll always be a streaming option whenever he’s starting at home. Unfortunately, he’ll be on the road against the Angels next weekend, and he might be in line for only a couple of more starts before Bryce Miller returns.