ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired right-handed relief pitcher JT Chargois and minor league infielder Austin Shenton from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for right-handed relief pitcher Diego Castillo.
Chargois (SHA-gwah), 30, went 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA (30-IP, 10-ER) in 31 appearances, all in relief, for the Mariners this season, including a run of eight consecutive scoreless appearances snapped in his most recent outing. He was selected to the major league roster from the alternate training site on May 9, and since then is tied for the Mariners lead in appearances. He has limited opponents to a .217 avg. (23-for-106), including .184 (7-for-38) against left-handed hitters. According to StatCast, he has thrown his slider for 69.0 pct. of his pitches this season, fourth in the majors behind Matt Wisler (90.0), Austin Adams (88.5) and Diego Castillo (70.4). He has averaged 95.8 mph on his 127 sinkers, including a top velocity of 97.6 mph.
Chargois spent the 2020 season with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan’s Pacific League, going 0-3 with a 5.81 ERA (26.1-IP, 17-ER) in 31 appearances. He has spent parts of four seasons in the majors for the Minnesota Twins (2016), Los Angeles Dodgers (2018-19) and Mariners (2021), going 5-5 with a 4.13 ERA (106.2-IP, 49-ER) in 116 appearances, all out of the bullpen. He was selected by the Twins in the second round of the 2012 Amateur Draft out of Rice University.
Shenton, 23, earned a July 16 promotion from High-A Everett to Double-A Arkansas and is batting .300/.414/.566 (80-for-267) with 29 doubles, 12 home runs and 61 RBI in 67 games between the two levels. He ranks among full-season minor league leaders in runs scored (61, tied for fourth), doubles (first), extra-base hits (44, second) and RBI (tied for seventh). At the time of his promotion, he led High-A West in runs scored (55), doubles (24), extra-base hits (38), RBI (53), slugging pct. (.576) and on-base plus slugging (.994), ranked second in homers (11), third in on-base pct. (.418) and fourth in avg. (.295).
Between the two levels this season, Shenton has made 45 starts at third base, 15 starts at first base, four starts at designated hitter and three starts at second base. He is currently ranked by MLB.com as the No. 17 prospect in the Mariners organization. In two minor league seasons, he is a .299/.399/.542 (139-for-465) hitter with 19 home runs and 97 RBI in 120 games. He was selected by the Mariners in the fifth round of the 2019 Amateur Draft out of Florida International University, where he played for two seasons (2018-19) after transferring from Bellevue Community College in Washington. He was previously drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 34th round in 2016 out of Bellingham (Wash.) High School but did not sign.
Castillo, 27, went 2-4 with a 2.72 ERA (36.1-IP, 11-ER) in 37 appearances, all in relief, for the Rays this season, including an active streak of 10 consecutive scoreless outings beginning on June 23. He was signed by the Rays on March 5, 2014 out of the Dominican Republic, debuted in 2018 and spent parts of the last four seasons in the majors, going 14-14 with a 2.99 ERA (183.1-IP, 61-ER) in 167 appearances (17 starts). Last postseason, he went 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA (11-IP, 2-ER) in 10 appearances and was the winning pitcher in Game 5 of the American League Division Series over the New York Yankees.
