Once a key part of trade for Castillo, Stoudt back with Mariners

PEORIA, Ariz. -- When Levi Stoudt received word earlier this week that he’d been designated for assignment by the Reds, he hoped he’d wind up back with the organization that drafted and developed him. So, too, did the Mariners, who claimed him off waivers on Saturday and immediately brought him to camp.

So quickly did Stoudt’s fate turn that he was sporting red cleats while throwing a bullpen session less than 24 hours later, toeing a familiar rubber and mingling with familiar faces before firing roughly 25 pitches to get both physically and socially reacclimated.

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“I know they really liked me here and it was tough for them to let me go, and so this was a place that was kind of on my radar and a place I might end up,” Stoudt said. “And I couldn't be happier about it.

“It seems like the philosophy is still pretty much the same as when I was here, which is a good thing,” Stoudt said. “I don't have to relearn a whole new system, and I'm excited to see what that philosophy can do for me, and kind of focusing back on that.”

The Mariners’ third-round Draft pick in 2019, Stoudt was among the key prospects that Seattle sent to Cincinnati in the 2022 Trade Deadline blockbuster that netted Luis Castillo. He was ranked the club’s No. 5 prospect at the time, per MLB Pipeline, and was a solidifying piece to get the deal done.

But in the 18 months after, he struggled mightily. The highs included making his MLB debut last April 19, but they were far outnumbered by the lows, which included being optioned four times after Opening Day and being hit hard at Triple-A Louisville.

In four big league outings -- one each in April, May, June and July -- Stoudt surrendered 11 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings (9.58 ERA), with nine strikeouts, eight walks and a .980 opponent OPS. In 25 outings in the Minors, he had a 6.53 ERA, ballooned heavily by 20 homers, to go with a 15.1% K rate and 13% walk rate.

It was head-scratching production given the success he’d seen in the Mariners’ system, which as recently as Spring Training in 2022 had him on the outside looking in for an Opening Day rotation spot.

“It was a little bit of, I'd say, lack of direction, in my sense,” Stoudt said. “Kind of not much of a philosophy. It was kind of just, 'Go play baseball, and we'll help you along the way.' But there wasn't a whole lot of emphasis on any one thing in particular. And I think that kind of made it hard for me to realize what I'm supposed to be doing. There just wasn't a very clear direction, which I mean, my first day back here, I can already feel the difference.”

Stoudt was among the pitching-heavy pipeline that has come to define this era in Seattle, growing up in the Minors with George Kirby, Matt Brash, Emerson Hancock and Brandon Williamson, who was also traded to the Reds earlier in '22 in the deal for Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez.

Stoudt is not a candidate for the Opening Day roster, but he represents valuable rotation depth for a team that could use it.

The Mariners dealt two veteran workhorses this offseason, Marco Gonzales and Robbie Ray. And beyond the starting five of Castillo, Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo, there aren’t many reinforcements other than Hancock, who’s expected to start the year at Triple-A Tacoma, and Austin Voth, who will begin the year as the long man in the bullpen.

Typically, even good teams need up to nine or 10 starters to navigate a season. If Stoudt can get back on track, maybe he’ll be in that mix.