Defending Luis Castillo's surprising inclusion in Mariners' 50 greatest players

If you weren't already aware, the Mariners are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. They've come a long way from the scrappy expansion team that didn't make their first playoff appearance until their 19th season, and the team is celebrating the heritage of the franchise this weekend.

As part of the festivities, the team will be honoring the 50 greatest players to suit up for the team. Although some names like Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki, and Edgar Martínez are no-doubt inclusions, the bottom of the list gets a little more subjective and the organization may have some unexpected picks.

Luis Castillo's Mariners legacy is about more than just numbers

General manager Justin Hollander recently let it slip that Luis Castillo would be on the team which may come as a surprise, especially since the front office worked so hard to trade him to the White Sox just a few days ago. He pitched just four and a half seasons for Seattle.

But does he have a case?

Castillo accumulated a total of 10.3 fWAR in Seattle, making him the 18th-most valuable pitcher by the stat. That mark would give him more fWAR than all but 25 Mariners position players, barely edging out Ken Phelps (9.8). Thus, it's feasible that he's somewhere in the top 50 of all time but will probably be close to the bottom of the list.

Another aspect to his game that dramatically helps his case is that Castillo's 2.38 ERA in the postseason is the lowest of any Mariners pitchers with more than 20 innings. He notably beat out Randy Johnson (3.52) who admittedly pitched almost 16 more innings than Castillo. His best single outing was tossing 7.1 shutout innings against the Blue Jays in the first game of the 2022 Wild Card series.

Against the Tigers in the Division Series last year, he pitched a total of six scoreless innings across two appearances, giving up a total of one hit. In Seattle's two trips to the playoffs since he became a member of the team, he has been an integral part of their rotation.

Which is a good reminder of how he ended up here in the first place. In 2022, he was acquired from the Reds at the trade deadline to round out the team's starting pitching and help them finally break the playoff drought that had haunted them for decades. He did exactly that, posting a 3.17 ERA and 2.91 FIP for the team over his 11 starts. The success of that year was built on the success of many players but he may have been one of the most impactful in the final few months of the season.

When one thinks of the best pitchers in Mariners history, Félix Hernández and Randy Johnson make it difficult to fairly consider others. Outside of those two, the pickings get significantly slimmer. For a relatively young franchise that has languished in mediocrity for much of its life, Castillo's tenure was short albeit impactful enough to warrant his inclusion in the Top 50.

Outside of his numbers on the mound, he was by all accounts an excellent teammate and will be missed by many who had the privilege of working with or watching him. Even as his departure is still in the process of ushering in a new era of Seattle pitching, it's not too early to recognize the value he brought to the Mariners organization.

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