Minor leaguers Noelvi Marte, Levi Stoudt, Edwin Arroyo and Andrew Moore are headed to Cincinnati, the teams announced. Marte, a shortstop, has the highest grade of the group, with ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranking him the 12th best prospect in baseball heading into the season. The Mariners, led by rookie Julio Rodriguez, entered Friday at 54-46, 11 games behind the AL West-leading Houston Astros and holding onto the second wild-card spot. Now, they’re set to add the best available arm before Tuesday’s trade deadline, one to join an already solid rotation that includes Robbie Ray and Logan Gilbert. 2 Related It will be a huge pick-up for a Mariners team that hasn’t reached the postseason since 2001, the longest active drought among the four major North American professional sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL). A 29-year-old right-hander, Castillo is 4-4 with a 2.86 ERA in 14 starts for the Reds this season and has a career 3.62 ERA in six seasons, all with Cincinnati. Castillo won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2023 season, so the Mariners will have him for at least the rest of this year and all of next year. Castillo has rebounded from a career-worst season in 2021, when he missed 16 games and struck out 75 batters in the league. His changeup has been his best pitch for most of his career, but this year, he’s actually throwing more of his four-seam game and doing so with great success. Opponents have whiffed on 39% of their swings against his four-seamer, the highest percentage of Castillo’s career and the highest of any pitcher in the majors (at least 300 pitches thrown). Castillo has a 1.38 ERA in four starts against the AL this year, second only to Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers (0.69) among qualified pitchers. The Reds have moved veteran players for prospects since the end of the lockout earlier this year. In March, they traded Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker to the Mariners, and on Thursday, they traded outfielder Tyler Naquin and reliever Phillip Diehl to the New York Mets. They get a lot from Seattle in this trade, with Marte and Arroyo ranked among the team’s top 10 preseason prospects by ESPN’s McDaniel. Marte, 20, has been on the year for High-A Everett, hitting .275 with 15 home runs and a team-best 62 runs and 55 RBIs to go along with 13 steals entering Friday. McDaniel ranked Arroyo, also a shortstop, as Seattle’s eighth-best prospect entering the season. The 18-year-old spent the season at Single-A Modesto, hitting .316 with 76 runs, 67 RBIs, 13 home runs and 21 steals. Stoudt, a 24-year-old right-hander, is 6-6 with a 5.28 ERA in 18 starts for Double-A Arkansas this season. And the versatile Moore spent the last four seasons in Seattle. He is hitting .197 with five home runs and 16 RBI this year. Cincinnati’s Brandon Drury could also be moved before Tuesday’s deadline, along with several Reds relievers. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers contributed to this report.
