Luis

Castillo

Castillo was dominant against the Yankees in his first start of 2026, but he struggled in his first road appearance. The right-hander didn’t get much help from his defense, but he left too many pitches over the middle of the plate in a disappointing effort for the 33-year-old. Castillo’s stuff looked fine, and he is a good bounceback candidate at home against the Astros next week.

This was vintage La Piedra stuff. Castillo initiated 17 swings-and-misses, and he located his four-seam fastball all night long. He allowed just two hits and two walks, and there was basically no hard contact against the 33-year-old throughout the contest. Castillo is no longer a fantasy ace, but he’s still a very effective option more often than not. He’ll get the ball again Sunday against the Angels, but it’s worth noting that start is in Los Angeles, and Castillo has been considerably more effective in Seattle the past few seasons.

Kirby put together a phenomenal spring, flashing an uptick in velocity, and will get the ball after Logan Gilbert takes his turn on Opening Day at T-Mobile Park. He’ll be followed by Bryan Woo and Emerson Hancock over the weekend before Luis Castillo makes his season debut against the Yankees on Monday.

Castillo appears on track to take the ball this weekend against the Guardians to kick off the regular season after wrapping up spring training with a lackluster 7.80 ERA and 13/4 K/BB ratio across 15 innings. The lack of big-time strikeout upside at this stage of his career limits his fantasy appeal to more of a back-end rotation stabilizer capacity.

One of the few Mariners that doesn’t seem to be at the World Baseball Classic, Castillo shook off an early homer by Rockies infielder Adael Amador to work into the fourth inning of this one. He struck out three and only issued one walk. The 33-year-old veteran will pitch at the back-end of Seattle’s rotation this season and projects as a low-upside SP5 for fantasy purposes.

After a scoreless first, Castillo gave up four hits in the second and was pulled. He was supposed to come back out for the third at that point, but the Padres went on to score 12 runs in the inning, so Castillo instead finished his day by throwing in the pen. The wind made everything a mess in this one, so don’t worry about his ERA. At least he gave up only one of the game’s 12 homers.

Castillo struck out two batters in the contest and didn’t issue a base on balls. He got through the first inning unscathed, then allowed two singles to start the second inning followed by a three-run blast off the bat of A.J. Vukovich. The right-hander got five whiffs on 36 pitches on the day, posting a CSW of 28 percent. He’ll try to put this one behind him and get back on track his next time out.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson opted to pull Castillo with the bases loaded in the third inning after just 48 pitches. It was his shortest start since April 27, 2018. The 32-year-old veteran right-handed breezed through the first two frames before giving up a giving up a two-run homer to light-hitting Andrês Giménez. He was charged with one additional run when lefty reliever Gabe Speier handed out a bases-loaded free pass to Daulton Varsho.

Rather than risk Castillo in a road start, the Mariners will have him pitch just once at home in the ALCS. Kirby will be lined up for a potential Game 7, though the Mariners will have some options with Bryan Woo’s return giving them five starters.

Gilbert started more recently than Luis Castillo in the ALDS and threw more than twice as many pitches as Castillo in relief in Game 5 (34 to 15), but such is the Mariners’ desire to pitch Castillo at home than they’re going to bypass him for now. He’ll presumably start Game 3.