PEORIA, Ariz. -- Luis Castillo isn¡¯t headed to the World Baseball Classic, but he could be headed to a monster season. And he makes it no secret what his goals are entering 2023.

¡°Make the Opening Day start. Make an All-Star team. Cy Young,¡± Castillo said through an interpreter after his Cactus League debut on Tuesday.

¡°La Piedra¡± (translated to ¡°the rock¡±) allowed one unearned run and two hits with two strikeouts over two innings in the Mariners' 9-8 win over the Guardians. His fastball sat in the low 90s, expected at this time of year, and he landed his slider for both punchouts.

That pitch became a weapon for Castillo last year to pair with his two- and four-seam fastballs, which move in the opposite direction of each other. The slider has become his best secondary pitch after he broke into the league in 2017 with a plus-plus changeup.

¡°A dominant changeup,¡± Mariners manager Scott Servais said. ¡°And of course, hitters make adjustments, they know that¡¯s a big part of his game, [the changeup] at the bottom of the strike zone. So what we saw last year is a lot of his strikeouts came from the fastball that was elevated from that slot, along with the slider. [The slider] is a really important pitch getting back into counts against left-handed hitters.

¡°Those are things we talked about with him, ¡®Let¡¯s continue to do this. They¡¯ll be focused on where you¡¯re trying to target your slider, and where that needs to go in certain counts.'¡±

Another adjustment Castillo has made has been the elimination of the knee twitch he had while pitching from the stretch, a movement that would now yield a balk.?

¡°I really liked it,¡± Castillo said. ¡°I kind of miss it because when I did it, it kind of helped my sleeves move up a little bit, which made my arms feel a little more free.¡±

What Castillo provided in less than three months last year has the Mariners salivating at what that type of production could lead to over a full season. Castillo was arguably the Majors¡¯ biggest difference-maker for his acquiring team among the blockbuster deals at last year¡¯s Trade Deadline -- especially for his epic postseason efforts.

Castillo blanked the juggernaut Blue Jays on the road in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series and followed it up with seven brilliant innings in Game 2 of the AL Division Series, masked by one bloop and a blast in an eventual loss. He also marveled in huge games down the stretch, beginning with his Mariners debut in New York, when he drew comparisons to franchise icon F¨¦lix Hern¨¢ndez.

¡°It was an unforgettable experience,¡± Castillo said. ¡°It was a long time before this team had been in the playoffs. What stood out to me most was the work that everybody put in, whether it¡¯s the players, the coaches, we all put in that work to get as far as we did.¡±

Yet even before those big October moments, Castillo quickly felt at home in Seattle -- enough to sign a five-year, $108 million extension last September that runs through 2027 and could go to a vesting sixth year for $25 million if he pitches at least 180 innings in ¡®27. Had the Mariners not locked him up, Castillo would have been a free agent after ¡®23.

¡°You know that this is a business, and one day you can be here and then you can be somewhere else in a short time,¡± Castillo said. ¡°But when I got here, I just felt very comfortable. I felt comfortable even with all the talent that we had here. I knew that I wanted to stay.¡±

In 11 regular-season starts after the trade, Castillo had a 3.17 ERA, 117 ERA+ (league average is 100), 77 strikeouts, 17 walks and six homers allowed in 65 1/3 innings, holding 266 hitters to a .226/.286/.350 (.636 OPS) slash line.

¡°We knew he was competitive, and all of our reports say this guy likes the big moments,¡± Servais said. ¡°But he hadn¡¯t been in a lot of them. From the first time he put on our uniform in Yankee Stadium to the end, he was phenomenal. Just awesome.¡±