I was in denial during his last start, now I'm like "damn, yeah." 🙁

I think we could very well see him in the pen, if the M’s hang on to a playoff spot. His velo would probably tick up, pitching an inning or two at a time, and that “effectively wild” stuff might just play?

I’ve seen others suggest this too. idk if he has the disposition for the bullpen, but I guess anything is possible?!

At this point, I just hope the team can win enough games to hang on to a playoff spot!

Well, giving up a 3 run bomb to the 8 hitter with an OPS of .465 is not great.

I feel like it often takes him some time to settle in. But I also find that concerning, heh

the guys from the Marine Layer podcast said something like the hard hit rate vs Castillo is very concerning & not gotten better & that his velocities dropped a little this season.

Yeah, I remember reading his velo is down a bit. Not ideal!

Luke Arkins is also posting about these issues with Castillo too

Yep. It's time to move on. Though, maybe he can be an effective reliever? If the Mariners do make the postseason, he cannot be starting games.

I don’t know if he’s cut out to be a reliever, especially if he’s giving up so much contact. I definitely wouldn’t trust him to come in in a relief situation in his current form.

You may be spot on. They talk about starters being able to go max effort in relief spots though. So maybe he could add a couple of ticks to his fast ball in a short stint? I dunno. He's still owed a lot of money, so they may have to try.

I get that, but it still doesn’t matter how fast you throw middle middle, ya know? I’ve heard a lot of relievers talk about how you have to have a certain type of personality to be able to handle the uncertainty of not knowing when you’re coming in or how many runners are on.

Hahaha yeah, I hear ya. It's getting frustrating. I hope he can figure it out. I don't think that contract is tradeable.

I hope he figures it out too! He’s an easy guy to root for, and they really need him to get it together if there’s any hope of them making the playoffs. I don’t think he’s tradable at this point, unless he really turns things around. Last season definitely would have been the time to do it though.

That pitch was put exactly where it was called for. Fortes, somehow, was looking for that exact pitch.

His slider has been hit pretty hard, so he’s basically a three pitch pitcher, of which two are fastballs. Velo is down a bit as well, so it adds up.

I have the radio on so I appreciate that context. Interesting.

www.mlb.com/video/nick-f...

And the problem was being behind 2-0 at that point. Fall behind and the hitter can sit on the fastball.

Definitely an attacking count but who is zoning in on a fastball above the zone? That should have been a pop up but a bad hitter ran into one.

💯

YES! He's been awful for a month. Check out his awful August ERA for the last 4 years: 2.84, 3.55, 4.66, 6.66