Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo takes rare at-bat

Luis Castillo batted for the Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon.

No, that’s not a typo.

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Castillo, the Mariners’ starting pitcher, came to bat in the fourth inning of Sunday’s series finale against the Minnesota Twins. The bizarre situation occurred because Seattle had to forfeit its designated hitter to replace starting catcher Mitch Garver, who exited the game after being hit by a pitch. Castillo was just the third Mariners pitcher to bat in a home game with the DH rule in effect, joining Mike Schooler in 1990 and Joe Saunders in 2013, according to Mariners PR.

Castillo, who came to the plate after a leadoff double by Luke Raley, took three straight fastballs down the middle for a strikeout. It was Castillo’s first at-bat since 2021 when he was on the Cincinnati Reds, which was before MLB implemented the universal DH rule that brought the designated hitter to the National League. In his four seasons with the Reds, Castillo batted .111 with four doubles in 199 at-bats.

Mariners manager Scott Servais acknowledged that they didn’t want Castillo to risk hurting himself when he was at the plate, given how valuable he is on the mound.

“Luis hasn’t had a bat in his hand for a couple years and there’s so much baseball yet, and we need him to be a guy for us on the mound,” Servais said. “You’ve gotta be really careful there – (if) something crazy happens, now you look up and you’re behind the eight ball and you don’t have him as your top starting pitcher.”

When Castillo’s spot in the order came up again in the fifth inning, the Mariners were trailing 3-2 with the bases loaded and one out. With it being a pivotal juncture of the game, Servais elected to pinch-hit Ryan Bliss for Castillo, which ended the 31-year-old right-hander’s outing early at 77 pitches. Bliss ended up striking out and Jorge Polanco followed with a pop-out to end the inning. Castillo’s final line was three runs and six hits in five innings.

Luis Castillo proving the Pitchers Are Athletes. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/NfHMWsxwUv

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 30, 2024

The unusual situation all stemmed from Garver being hit on his right wrist by a 93 mph sinker in the second inning. Garver stayed in the game to run the bases, but exited after the inning with a wrist contusion.

Cal Raleigh, who began the game as Seattle’s designated hitter, replaced Garver at catcher. That meant the Mariners had to forfeit their DH, which prompted them to slot Castillo into Garver’s No. 6 spot in the lineup in order to keep Castillo in the game.

Raleigh and Garver are currently the only two catchers on the Mariners’ 26-man roster. Garver began the season solely as a DH, but officially became Seattle’s backup catcher earlier this month when the team designated catcher Seby Zavala for assignment on June 18. Savala cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Tacoma.

Garver is batting just .172/.293/.353 with 10 homers in 71 games after the Mariners signed him as a free agent this offseason.

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