Seattle Mariners Reportedly Take Necessary Steps with Frustrated Pitchers

Wed, May 27, 2026

Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, as well as manager Dan Wilson and pitching coach Pete Woodworth, spoke with Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo amidst visible frustration over the team's current piggyback situation.

Video Transcript

Hey everyone, Taryn Kovach here with Roundtable Sports for ACL Mariners Updates.

So for those of you that have been following our reporting as well as onsite reporting from the Beat Riders over currently at Southern Health Park in Sacramento, California, the Mariners piggyback situation hit a bit of a snag on Monday in the first of a three-game series against the Athletics.

Not in terms of results.

The Mariners won the game 9-2.

Luis Castillo pitched four scoreless innings.

Bryce Miller pitched the final five, allowed just two earned runs.

But both pitchers were clearly not satisfied with the piggyback arrangement.

Luis Castillo was noticeably frustrated on the bench, had an animated conversation with manager Dan Wilson.

Bryce Miller said after his start that the situation slash arrangement, however you want to word it, wasn't comfortable.

And this led to a lot of speculation and just general thoughts over kind of the general disconnect between the two and what the organization was trying to do with Miller and Castillo.

But according to a report from Seattle Times writer Adam Jude, it seems like that things have smoothed over for now at least.

Per Jude's reporting, Wilson, Mariners pitching coach Pete Woodworth, and president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto all had conversations with Miller and Castillo.

And the two were, quote, receptive, end quote, to the conversation and did appreciate the dialogue.

According to Jude's reporting, the Mariners will go with the piggyback for at least one more start or at least one more turn through the order rather, which will take place in the series finale of a three-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks at 1.10 p.m. Pacific on May 31st at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, in which Miller will start and Castillo will be coming out of the bullpen.

Now, despite the frustration from the two pitchers, it doesn't seem like a move to the bullpen will be in the cards for either of them.

Dipoto said earlier this month that the team plans to keep all six pitchers.

Those two, Brian Wu, George Kirby, Emerson Hancock, Lo and Gilbert all stretched out as starters, which would mean that if the Mariners do shift away from the piggyback approach after this upcoming game, upcoming turn through the order against the Diamondbacks, it would be a traditional six-man rotation.

And as mentioned before, even though the two weren't happy after Monday's game, from a result standpoint, it's worked out for both.

Castillo has a 2.84 ERA with 10 strikeouts in 6.1 innings pitched since the first piggyback outing against the Chicago White Sox on May 19th.

Miller has a 1.69 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 10.2 innings pitched.

So it'll be interesting to see how the situation progresses, what the Mariners' next steps will be if they do opt to go away from the piggyback approach or if they go away from it at all.

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