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# Mariners vs. Tigers Preview: A Rare Disadvantage in Pitching Matchups
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/mariners-vs-tigers-preview-rare-disadvantage-in-pitching-matchups/
- Published: 2025-03-31T17:15:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:59:57.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Mariners, Emerson Hancock, Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo

[Embed from Getty Images](http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2206773726?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)

The first weekend of real baseball is in the rearview mirror, and the Mariners find themselves 2-2 following a turbulent series split with the division-rival Athletics. Next up is the Tigers, who make their way to the Pacific Northwest losers of their first three ballgames against the vaunted Dodgers down in Los Angeles. 

Aptly monikered “The Gritty Tigs,” Detroit proved to be a thorn in Seattle’s side a year ago, going 5-1 with four of the six games being decided by two or fewer runs. Here’s how the pitching matchups line up as the Mariners look to turn the tables on their latest house guests. 

### Game 1: RHP Emerson Hancock vs. RHP Jackson Jobe

Stepping in for George Kirby (shoulder), Hancock makes his season debut looking to accomplish what he did in 10 of his 12 spot-starts last season: keep things close and give his club a chance to win. That’s certainly a possible outcome, but there are several glaring reasons why the repeatability of that is far from guaranteed. Numerous injuries have severely capped the ceiling of the former first-round draft pick out of Georgia, and his one standout tool — his changeup — is reliant upon the success of his lackluster fastball, which registered a -10 run value in 2024\. His underwhelming arsenal has led to an inability to produce whiffs, but what’s most concerning is that he’s struggled to keep the ball on the ground and last found himself in the fourth percentile in hard-hit rate (46 percent), meaning opponents generated plenty of quality contact off of him and lifted the ball with regularity. Even in the pitcher-friendly confines of T-Mobile Park, that’s a recipe for disaster at any given moment. Perhaps some of [the tweaks he made during the offseason](https://sports.mynorthwest.com/brock-and-salk/seattle-mariners-emerson-hancock-new-pitches/1799715?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com#:~:text=Hancock%2C%20who%20started%2012%20games,the%20University%20of%20Georgia%20product.) will lead to better results, but until he tests them out in a game that counts, it’s hard to feel confident about Seattle’s odds whenever he takes the bump. And if the offense performs as poorly as it did this past weekend, he’ll have very little room for error. 

While Mariners fans will be focused on Hancock, the collective eyes of the baseball world will be purely fixated on Jackson Jobe, one of the game’s top pitching prospects and a Rookie of the Year favorite, who’s set to make his first career major-league start. Jobe made four relief appearances between the regular season and playoffs in 2024, giving up three earned runs on six hits and a walk while striking out two. His five subsequent spring outings were a mixed bag in terms of the numbers, but his pitch mix is special and the bag has only gotten deeper with the development of a new sinker and curveball this past winter. Although this won’t be his first taste of the majors, it will be his first extended test against big-leaguers who’ve actually gameplanned for him. With that will likely come some nerves and the Mariners will hope that works in their favorite, though Jobe’s raw talent alone should still give them some issues. 

### Game 2: RHP Logan Gilbert (0-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. RHP Casey Mize

Fresh off a brilliant Opening Day start, Gilbert gives the Mariners their only clear pitching advantage in this series. He hasn’t seen the Tigers since May 14, 2023 and has gone up against just eight of their 13 current position players; Kerry Carpenter, notorious destroyer of right-handed pitching and arguably Detroit’s best hitter, is not one of them. Among those who have faced Gilbert, veteran part-timer Manuel Margot has had the most success and may find his way into the lineup as a result, coming in 4-for-9 with a pair of doubles and a home run versus Seattle’s All-Star righty. But if Gilbert looks the way he did this past Thursday, it’s going to be a long night for whoever steps in the box. 

Opposing Gilbert will be former first overall draft selection Casey Mize, whose MLB career thus far has been a rocky journey due to injury and underwhelming performance. Mize hasn’t faced the Mariners since 2021 and Seattle’s roster has naturally undergone significant changes since then. In fact, only J.P. Crawford remains from the Mariners club Mize last battled, and he’s faced just four other current Mariners in his career: Jorge Polanco (5-for-14, two home runs), Randy Arozarena (1-for-3, double, two strikeouts), Rowdy Tellez (0-for-2, strikeout), and… Luis Castillo (0-for-1, strikeout) — no, that’s not a typo. Interestingly, Mize somewhat reinvented himself this offseason and it showed during the spring where he spun an elite-looking splitter. This could be a statement outing for him to prove he’s finally come into his own and is ready to break out. 

### Game 3: RHP Luis Castillo (0-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. LHP Tarik Skubal (0-1, 7.20 ERA)

In what will be the best pitching matchup the Mariners have been a part of in the early stages of the season, Castillo gets the ball following a decent 2025 debut against the A’s on Friday. In that start, Castillo’s changeup usage (19.3 percent) went up five percent from where it was in 2024 (14.3). This is obviously based off an extremely small, five-inning sample, but it does fall in line with the uptick seen in spring ball, potentially signaling a return to the pitch that used to be Castillo’s calling card in Cincinnati. Not only did it wind up taking a backseat once he got to Seattle, but it also produced severely worse results whenever he did deploy it, getting tagged for opposing batting averages of .280 and .287 in 2023 and 2024 — Castillo’s two full seasons with the Mariners — respectively. Of the 16 changeups he threw on Friday, none resulted in a hit, while two generated a whiff on eight swings. We’ll see how much he uses it when facing the Tigers, who struck out nine times while scoring three runs on eight hits in six innings the last time they saw him.

Skubal, a Seattle University graduate, held the Mariners to three runs on six hits with 18 strikeouts over a combined 13 innings of work in a pair of starts last August. The defending American League Cy Young award winner is coming off a rough Opening Day start in which he surrendered four runs on six hits, including a pair of homers, in five frames against the Dodgers. But don’t let that fool you; Skubal is still one of the five best pitchers in the sport and the Dodgers are a super team specifically designed to make even the greatest arms look human. The Mariners… are not. So yeah, this is gonna be a tough one, and Seattle’s only hope of winning likely rests on Castillo and its bullpen being damn near perfect.