Across two starts and 11.0 innings in the 2019 baseball season, Tyler Mahle has a 0.82 ERA. He has a 3.24 FIP, which isn’t quite 0.82 but is pretty darn good in its own right. He’s struck out 12 and walked four, giving up only seven hits with one home run. It was a solo shot. It’s the only run he’s given up.
Luis Castillo has been the best of the Reds starters, there’s no question about that, and Sonny Gray has probably taken second place despite his first start stumbles. But Tyler Mahle — you know, the guy supposed to start the year in AAA as the rotation’s sixth man — has easily been the third best.