Seattle Mariners: Is it time to 'panic' about Luis Castillo?

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Seattle Mariners: Is it time to 'panic' about Luis Castillo? originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Despite the Seattle Mariners having one of the better starting rotations in Major League Baseball (13th with a 3.94 ERA), right-hander Luis Castillo has not pitched well. In six starts, Castillo is 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA and has a 1.73 WHIP.

In his last two starts, Castillo failed to throw more than five innings (10.0 total innings) and has given up nine earned runs, three home runs, hit a batter, and recorded four strikeouts. Castillo’s poor performance to begin the season caused some to wonder if it's “time to panic.”

Should the Seattle Mariners “panic” about Luis Castillo’s slow start?​

According to MLB.com’s Thomas Harrigan, Castillo was given the “time to panic” label for his performance through the first month of the season.

“While Castillo finished 2025 with a 3.54 ERA over 32 starts, we saw signs of cracks forming in the foundations as his whiff, strikeout, and barrel rates all regressed to career-worst levels,” wrote Harrigan. “Those key metrics have continued to trend in the wrong direction this year, contributing to a 6.35 ERA through seven starts. That would be concerning for any pitcher, much less a 33-year-old who put a lot of mileage on his arm from 2018-25 (1,321 1/3 IP).”

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In his decade in the big leagues, Castillo’s ERA has only been above 4.00 one time. In his second season in the big leagues, Castillo finished the 2018 season with the Cincinnati Reds with a 10-12 record and a 4.30 ERA in 169.2 innings. Since then, the highest the three-time All-Stars' came to a 4.00 ERA was in 2021 (3.98).

Signed to a five-year ($108 million) contract in 2022, Castillo needs to start turning things around.

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