2022 Seattle Mariners Regular Season Grades - Pitchers

The 2022 regular season is almost at a close, and now it's time for me to grade the Mariners pitchers for 2022.  I've already done the hitters, and you can check my previous post to see that.  But how did the pitchers do?  Again, this does factor in expectations for each pitcher.

Starters

Robbie Ray: B-
I can't give Robbie higher than a B.  Has he been good for the most part?  Yes.  But he's had stretches where he gives up a lot of home runs, namely at the beginning and end of the season.  I don't think he's pitched quite well enough to earn his salary, but he has been better than the average #1/2 pitcher.

Luis Castillo: B+
Castillo was a much-needed addition for our playoff push.  He has been mostly great, but he did show a few signs of struggle.  No pitcher is perfect, but I'd have to say Castillo has been about as good as we could hope.  He' just a few bad starts away from a grade in the A's.

Logan Gilbert: A-
Logan had an amazing start, winning pitcher of the month for April.  He cooled off but never had any massive struggles.  He picked it back up late in the season and earned a spot as one of the Top 3 in the rotation for the playoffs.  Logan's first full season in the bigs went about as well as we could've hoped.

Marco Gonzalez: C+
Marco definitely had his ups and downs, which is just a kind way of saying he struggled too much for most people's liking.  Shows how much our rotation has come when Marco, our former #1 starter, is now #5.  I'll give Marco credit: he battled all season and never wavered or caved into pressure.  

George Kirby: A
Kirby's first season went better than we could've even hoped.  He showed impeccable control and went a long stretch without giving up a home run.  George proved he can be a top of the line starter for us, and the future is incredibly bright with him.

Chris Flexen: B-
Flexen pitched as well as a #4 starter could be expected to.  He had his ups and downs, just like Marco.  He handled his "demotion" to the bullpen extremely well and did everything that was asked of him.

Relievers

Diego Castillo: B-
Castillo had an extremely rough start to his season but turned it around.  He still had a hiccup or two after, as almost every reliever does.  But that rough start cannot be ignored.  Hopefully, if he's used in the playoffs, we won't see that side of him again.

Matt Brash: B+
Brash started as the starter instead of George Kirby, which was the wrong choice.  Fortunately, Brash seems to have found his spot in the bullpen.  Brash has some of the nastiest pitches I have ever seen.  And his performance in the 13-inning game was amazing, especially that double play he helped induce.  

Matt Festa: C+
Festa has been pretty good.  We just never know which Festa we'll get daily.  He's either been really good or awful, with no in-between.  I wouldn't want him in a high leverage situation in the playoffs.

Paul Sewald: A-
Sewald has been as good as we could hope, although there have been a few games where he gave up some costly home runs.  But he's still one of Scott's most trusted arms in the pen and rightfully so.

Andres Munoz: A
Munoz has become one of the best relievers in baseball, and that is no exaggeration.  He routinely hits over 100 MPH and has a wicked slider.  He could be an extremely dominant closer in our future.  Munoz's struggles have been few and far between as well.

Penn Murfee: B
Is there a more aptly named reliever in baseball?  Anyway, Murfee wasn't expected to be much this season but has been a very solid reliever.  He has had struggles every now and then, but he's still exceeded expectations.  

Erik Swanson: A-
Swanson, like Brash, is a converted starter that has thrived in the pen.  Swanson's ERA for a large part of the year was UNDER 1.00.  That's insane.  He wasn't perfect and was a bit wild at times, but he did become one of Scott's more trusted relievers.

Ryan Borucki, Matthew Boyd, Drew Steckenrider, Anthony Misiewicz: Incomplete
Not enough from these guys, but Steckenrider and Misiewicz were moved on from due to their struggles.  Boyd has been a solid lefty/long relief out of the pen and Borucki was fairly good out of the pen until his injury.  Borucki's best was definitely pitching multiple innings of relief in an extra inning game against the Blue Jays that resulted in a win.  

That's all I have for grades!  I'll likely do one more post on the Mariners, recapping the season and talking about their performance in the playoffs.  Hopefully it'll be longer than 2 or 3 games in the wild card round.  Go Mariners!