Luis Castillo named as Mariners’ lone representative for upcoming All-Star Game at T-Mobile Park
SEATTLE – Unlike the 2001 All-Star Game, the last time the city of Seattle was the host for Major League Baseball’s midsummer celebration, the Mariners won’t have eight players representing the organization in the game.
As of now, the only Mariners player that will have his named called on that Tuesday evening at T-Mobile Park will be Luis Castillo.
Castillo was notified of his selection for the American League All-Star team prior to making his start vs. the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday . It’s the third time he’s been chosen as an All-Star, earning the honors twice with the Reds.
The official announcement of the teams went public a few hours later on a special telecast of Baseball Tonight on ESPN while Castillo was still pitching. After a shaky start and minimal defensive help, Castillo pitched six innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
He will join manager Scott Servais, who was chosen to be on the coaching staff by Astros manager Dusty Baker, and head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson, who was also selected to be on the American League staff.
Castillo, 30, has a 5-6 record and 3.14 ERA in 17 starts. In 100⅓ innings, he struck out 114 batters with 28 walks. Castillo has 14 starts where he’s allowed three earned runs or fewer, including five where he didn’t allow a run.
He has eight quality starts of six-plus innings pitched, three runs or fewer allowed. He has a 4-2 record in those eight quality starts. Per FanGraphs, he has a 1.7 Wins Above Replacement and a 1.0 WAR on Baseball Reference.
Coming into the season, Castillo said his personal goals were being named the Mariners’ opening day starter, earning a spot on the All-Star team and winning the American League Cy Young award. He accomplished the first two, but winning the award for the AL’s best pitcher might be difficult.
While they obviously didn’t expect to have eight selections like the 2001 team that would go on win a MLB-record 116 games, there was something more than hope, perhaps expectation, that the Mariners would be rolling into the All-Star break in the thick of a division title race and with multiple representatives to showcase a franchise building toward sustained success.
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
Given the offensive struggles from marquee players like Julio Rodriguez, the Mariners never generated strong voting interest from the fans for a player to start and they didn’t have the numbers to generate votes from fellow players.
The Mariners could still gain another representative or two in the coming days as replacements for a handful of selected players like Aaron Judge, Yordan Alvarez and Shane McClanahan, who are currently on the injured list or players who opt-out due to health concerns or starting pitchers, who are scheduled to pitch on Sunday and ineligible to participate.
Right-hander George Kirby would have a strong case as a replacement for a starting pitcher on the American League squad. He arguably has better numbers than Castillo in many ways.
Kirby, 25, has posted a 7-7 record with a 3.21 ERA in 16 starts this season. In 101 innings pitched this season, he’s struck out 86 batters with just nine walks. The nine walks are the fewest among qualified starters in MLB while his 9.56 strikeout to walk ratio is the best in baseball.
Of his 16 starts this season, Kirby has delivered 13 quality starts, which is second most in MLB behind only Marcus Stroman (14). But thanks to an inconsistent offense that has plagued them all season, the Mariners have an 8-5 record in those starts and Kirby has a 7-4 record. He has a 2.1 WAR per Baseball Reference, which is eighth highest in the AL and a 2.3 FanGraphs WAR, which is fifth best in AL starters.