Dan Altavilla

Daniel Altavilla (born September 8, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Amateur career

Altavilla attended Elizabeth Forward High School in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania and played college baseball at Mercyhurst University. After his sophomore season in 2013, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League. As a junior at Mercyhurst, he was 9-1 with a 1.23 ERA in 12 starts, striking out a school-record 129 batters in 80.1 innings. He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the fifth round of the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft and signed for $250,000.

Professional career

After signing, Altavilla made his professional debut that same year with the Everett AquaSox and spent the whole season there, going 5-3 with a 4.36 ERA in 14 starts. In 2015, he played for the Bakersfield Blaze where he pitched to a 6-12 record with a 4.07 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in 28 games started. He began 2016 with the Jackson Generals.

Altavilla was called up to the majors for the first time on August 27, 2016, and he made his major league debut that same night. In 43 relief appearances for Jackson prior to being recalled, he was 7-3 with 1.91 ERA. He spent the remainder of the season with Seattle, compiling a 0.73 ERA in 12.1 innings pitched.

Altavilla began 2017 with Seattle, but was sent down to the Tacoma Rainers in April. He was recalled from Tacoma multiple times during the season before being recalled for the remainder of the season for September call-ups. In twenty games for Tacoma he was 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA, and in 41 games for Seattle, he was 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA. Altavilla began 2018 with Seattle but was placed on the disabled list in late April with joint inflammation. After being activated on May 12, he returned to Seattle, but was sent back down to Tacoma on May 23. He was recalled once again on May 27. He was limited to just 22 appearances in 2018 and 17 in 2019 due to injury and inconsistency.