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Diego Castillo (b. 1997)

Yankees Claim Diego Castillo, Designate Jeter Downs For Assignment

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The Yankees have claimed utility player Diego Castillo off of waivers from the Mets, the team announced. In a corresponding move, infielder Jeter Downs was designated for assignment.

Castillo, 26, returns to his original organization. The Yankees signed him as an international amateur out of Venezuela but flipped him to the Pirates alongside Hoy Park in the 2021 deadline deal that didn’t work out well for the Bucs. Both Castillo and Park were designated for assignment and traded to new clubs by the end of 2022, while Holmes has turned into the closer for the Yankees.

As for Castillo, he hit .206/.251/.382 in 96 games with the Bucs in 2022 then was traded to the Diamondbacks. The latter club mostly kept him in the minors, putting him into just one major league game. In 124 Triple-A contests, he only hit three home runs but walked more than he struck out, a 17.4% rate of free passes compared to 14.2% for the punchouts. His .313/.431/.410 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 117. He’s had other good Triple-A seasons in that vein, pairing minimal power with strong on-base abilities.

Defensively, Castillo has played all four infield positions and has spent some time in the outfield corners. He can also swipe a bag here and there, stealing 13 with the Reno last year. Despite that solid year with the Aces, he’s been on the transaction carousel this offseason, getting claimed off waivers by the Mets and now the Yankees.

The Yanks project to have an infield of Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres, Anthony Volpe and DJ LeMahieu. The guys on the corners are into their mid-30s now and coming off injury-marred seasons. Volpe had some mixed results but was only 22 and should get a chance to continue his development. Torres is solid at the keystone but is in his final year of club control before reaching free agency.  Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera,  and Jorbit Vivas are also on the 40-man but the club continues to focus on the depth. They recently signed Kevin Smith, Josh VanMeter and José Rojas to minor league deals and have now added Castillo into the mix. Since Castillo still has an option remaining, he can be kept in the minors as depth until his services as needed at the big league level.

They are also potentially losing one depth infielder in today’s transaction, with Downs no longer on the roster. The 25-year-old is perhaps best known for going from the Dodgers to the Red Sox as part of the return in the deal for Mookie Betts and David Price. Though he was once a top 100 prospect, he hasn’t lived up to that billing thus far. He struggled to establish himself with the Sox and has since gone to the Nationals and Yankees on waiver claims.

Between the Sox and the Nats, he’s only been put into 20 major league games, hitting .182/.260/.273 in those. His work in the minors hasn’t been much better, with a combined slash of .200/.309/.365 over the past three years.

The Yanks, who just claimed him last month, will now have a week to trade him or try to pass him through waivers. Despite the lack of offensive production, he may still garner interest from other clubs. He’s still quite young, has the former prospect pedigree and defensive versatility. He’s lined up at the three infield positions to the left of first base and a brief spell in the outfield. He also has one option year remaining, meaning he doesn’t need to be guaranteed an active roster spot.

Mets Designate Diego Castillo For Assignment

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The Mets have designated infielder Diego Castillo for assignment, tweets Will Sammon of the Athletic. That clears the necessary 40-man roster spot for left-hander Sean Manaea, whose two-year deal was finalized.

New York claimed Castillo off waivers from the Diamondbacks a week ago. It might prove an exceedingly brief stay in the organization for the right-handed hitter. The Mets will have to trade Castillo or put him on waivers themselves within the next seven days.

The 26-year-old spent almost all of last season in Triple-A. Arizona acquired Castillo in a minor trade with the Pirates over the 2022-23 offseason. They kept him on optional assignment to their top affiliate in Reno for all but one game. The 5’10” middle infielder had a solid year for the Aces, hitting .313/.431/.410 through 556 plate appearances. Castillo only hit three home runs in a very favorable offensive environment, but he demonstrated strong strike zone discipline. He walked at a massive 17.4% rate while striking out just 14.2% of the time.

It was a reversal from his 2022 MLB work in Pittsburgh. Castillo connected on 11 homers in 283 plate appearances (roughly half a season) as a rookie. He hit .206 with a meager .251 on-base percentage in that time, largely because of a poor strikeout and walk profile. Castillo walked less than 5% of the time while striking out in nearly 27% of his plate appearances as a big leaguer.

Castillo has been more of a hit-over-power player over an eight-year professional career. He’s a .276/.346/.373 hitter in the minors. He spent the bulk of that time in the Yankees system before being traded to Pittsburgh in what turned out to be a lopsided 2021 deal sending Clay Holmes to the Bronx.

Mets Claim Diego Castillo From Diamondbacks

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The Mets announced that they have claimed infielder Diego Castillo off waivers from the Diamondbacks. The latter club had designated him assignment two weeks ago when they made their signing of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. official. DFA limbo normally only lasts a week but the clock is paused for the week from Christmas to New Year’s. The Mets’ 40-man roster is up to 39, but it will be full once their deal with Harrison Bader is announced.

Not to be confused with the 29-year-old reliever of the same name who recently signed with the Rangers, this Castillo is a 26-year-old infielder. He was once a Yankees prospect, though that club flipped him to Pittsburgh in the Clay Holmes trade. The Pirates designated him for assignment just over a year ago and traded him to the Diamondbacks.

Between the Bucs and D’Backs, he has 284 major league plate appearances but has hit just .205/.250/.380 in those. He’s fared much better in the minors, including last year. In 556 plate appearances for Arizona’s Triple-A club in 2023, Castillo walked more than he struck out, a 17.4% walk rate compared to a 14.2% strikeout rate. He only hit three home runs but slashed .313/.431/.410 for a wRC+ of 117. He also stole 13 bases and suited up at the three infield positions to the left of first base, as well as left field.

The Mets have been focused on depth this winter, claiming Penn Murfee, Zack Short, Tyler Heineman, Cooper Hummel and now Castillo off waivers in order to bolster their depth in various places. They’ve also given out one-year deals to Bader, Luis Severino, Joey Wendle, Jorge López, Austin Adams and Michael Tonkin.

Castillo still has an option and won’t need to be guaranteed an active roster spot. He can give the club extra depth around the infield, where the Mets will have Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor in regular roles. The third base job is likely up for grabs, with Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Wendle in the mix for playing time there. Castillo and Short figure to be in depth roles who can fill in at various spots throughout the year as injuries dictate.

Diamondbacks Designate Diego Castillo For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks announced Friday that they’ve designated infielder Diego Castillo for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., whose previously reported three-year deal has now been formally announced by the club.

Castillo, 26, was traded from the Pirates to the D-backs 364 days ago, with Arizona sending minor league righty Scott Randall the other way in the deal. He appeared in just one game with the Snakes this season and went hitless in his lone plate appearance. He tallied 283 plate appearances in Pittsburgh a year prior but struggled to a .206/.251/.382 batting line in that MLB debut.

The bulk of Castillo’s 2023 season came in Triple-A Reno, where he played second base, shortstop, third base and left field over the course of 124 games. In 556 plate appearances, Castillo turned in an excellent .313/.431/.410 slash while walking more often than he struck out (17.4% versus 14.2%). In 177 career games at the Triple-A level, Castillo is a .296/.410/.407 hitter with nearly as many walks (124) as strikeouts (125).

Given his versatility, keen eye at the plate and excellent bat-to-ball skills, there’s a good chance that Castillo will draw interest from another club — if not in a trade (which seems quite plausible) then at least via waiver claim. He was never an elite prospect, but reports on the Venezuelan-born infielder have long touted his plus hit tool, even if that’s generally seen as his only above-average tool. Castillo has never swiped more than 13 bases and only has two seasons where he’s reached double-digit home runs; he hit just three long balls in 2023 despite spending the year in an immensely hitter-friendly setting.

Even if he’s “only” a contact-oriented utilityman, there’s still value to be had with Castillo. The fact that he’s being designated for assignment to make way for Gurriel’s return speaks to the manner in which the Arizona roster has deepened in a short time. The 2021 D-backs lost 110 games, but in just two years they’ve climbed to the World Series runners-up and are jettisoning a player who’d have been a veritable lock for playing time there just a couple seasons ago.

The Diamondbacks will have a week to trade Castillo or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

Diamondbacks Acquire Diego Castillo, Designate Taylor Widener

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The Diamondbacks announced that they have acquired infielder Diego Castillo from the Pirates. Castillo had been designated for assignment by Pittsburgh earlier in the week. In exchange, the Pirates will receive minor league right-hander Scott Randall. The Diamondbacks designated right-hander Taylor Widener for assignment in a corresponding move.

Castillo, 25, was one of two players traded from the Yankees to the Pirates as part of the July 2021 trade that sent Clay Holmes to the Bronx. He was a contact-over-power guy for the beginnings of his professional career, striking out around 10% of the time in the lower levels of the minors but rarely putting the ball over the fence. 2021 seemed to be a breakout for him, as he hit 19 home runs between the systems of the Yankees and Pirates, finishing the year with a combined slash line of .278/.355/.487 and a wRC+ of 128.

He was selected to Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster in November of last year but couldn’t carry his positive developments forward. He got into 96 games at the big league level in 2022 and hit 11 home runs, but he also struck out in 26.5% of his plate appearances while walking just 4.9% of the time. He finished the season with a batting line of .206/.251/.382, production that was 27% below average, as evidenced by his 73 wRC+. He also got into 35 Triple-A games but the results were only marginally better.

Despite that disappointing season, the D-Backs are likely intrigued by his previous performance and defensive versatility. He’s played all four infield positions and a bit of right field, in addition to having a couple of option years remaining. The Arizona infield should have three spots taken by Christian Walker at first, Ketel Marte at second and Josh Rojas at third. Shortstop is a bit less certain, however, with Nick Ahmed the likely frontrunner at the moment. He’s never been an above-average bat but has long provided excellent defense. However, he’s been frequently injured, is turning 33 in March and is entering the last deal of his extension. Geraldo Perdomo is also on the roster but Castillo can give him some competition for playing time.

Randall, 24, was just drafted by the D-Backs last year and spent 2022 in High-A. He threw 108 1/3 innings over 21 starts with a 3.82 ERA, 23.4% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 37.3% ground ball rate. He’ll add some starting depth to the lower levels of the Pittsburgh system.

Widener, 28, was drafted by the Yankees but came to the Snakes in the three-team trade that sent Brandon Drury to the Bronx. He posted an ERA of 8.10 in 23 Triple-A starts in 2019 and has spent more time in relief since then. In 49 MLB appearances, 13 starts, over the past three major league seasons, he has a 4.26 ERA, 22.3% strikeout rate, 11% walk rate and 34.1% ground ball rate.

In 2022, he spent more time in Triple-A, throwing 36 2/3 innings for the Reno Aces. He posted an ERA of 5.40 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, along with a 29.6% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. The Diamondbacks will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Should any team acquire him, he can provide versatile depth due to his two remaining option years.

Justice delos Santos of MLB.com announced Arizona’s acquisition of Castillo prior to the official announcement.

Pirates Designate Diego Castillo For Assignment

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The Pirates have designated infielder Diego Castillo for assignment, per their transactions tracker at MLB.com. The move opens a roster spot for catcher Austin Hedges, whose signing became official today.

Castillo, 25, was one of two players traded from the Yankees to the Pirates as part of the July 2021 trade that sent Clay Holmes to the Bronx. The other, Hoy Park, was designated for assignment in November, going to the Red Sox and then Braves in subsequent trades. That means today’s transaction could potentially wipe the Holmes return from Pittsburgh’s roster just a year and a half later, while Holmes has gone on to establish himself a key part of the Yankee bullpen.

Castillo was a contact-over-power guy for the beginnings of his professional career, striking out around 10% of the time in the lower levels of the minors but rarely putting the ball over the fence. 2021 seemed to be a breakout for him, as he hit 19 home runs between the systems of the Yankees and Pirates, finishing the year with a combined slash line of .278/.355/.487 and a wRC+ of 128.

He was selected to Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster in November of last year but couldn’t carry his positive developments forward. He got into 96 games at the big league level in 2022 and hit 11 home runs, but he also struck out in 26.5% of his plate appearances while walking just 4.9% of the time. He finished the season with a batting line of .206/.251/.382, production that was 27% below average, as evidenced by his 73 wRC+. He also got into 35 Triple-A games but the results were only marginally better. It seems the Bucs saw enough to feel it was time to move on.

They will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. It’s possible that Castillo could garner some interest from other clubs, despite his disappointing season. He’s still young and has a couple of option years remaining. He’s also played all four infield positions and a bit of right field, meaning he could provide clubs with a versatile depth piece even if his bat doesn’t turn around.

Kevin Newman Expected To Miss 3-5 Weeks With Groin Strain

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Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman left last night’s game due to left groin soreness, and the team’s director of sports medicine Todd Tomcyzk told reporters (including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) this afternoon he’s been diagnosed with a strain. The issue is expected to keep him out for three-to-five weeks.

Newman will certainly be placed on the 10-day injured list, leaving the Bucs needing to fill in at shortstop. Newman has started 13 of the first 17 games there, with Hoy Park, Diego Castillo and Cole Tucker accounting for the other four outings. Tucker is on the COVID-19 injured list, so Park and Castillo figure to be in line for the bulk of playing time over the coming weeks. Manager Derek Shelton said it’ll be Castillo who gets the nod for tonight’s game against the Brewers (via Mike Persak of the Post-Gazette).

Castillo and Park both went to Pittsburgh from the Yankees in last summer’s Clay Holmes trade. Both players had solid numbers in the high minors last year, but they’re each already in their mid-20’s. Most public prospect evaluators don’t regard either as a long-term regular, although Castillo checked in 16th at Baseball America and 17th at FanGraphs during those outlets’ respective write-ups of the Bucs’ farm system this winter. Both noted that Castillo isn’t likely to be a long-term fit defensively at shortstop but praised his bat-to-ball skills and suggested he could be a useful bat-first utility type.

While a Castillo – Park pairing seems the likeliest outcome, the Pirates could look elsewhere to hold down shortstop in Newman’s absence. Ke’Bryan Hayes moved to the position from his customary third base spot for the final few innings last night, his first career action there. Hayes, widely regarded as a Gold Glove-caliber player at the hot corner, could probably hold his own at shortstop. It seems, however, the Bucs would rather leave him at third base, where they’re certain he can be a plus defender.

The Pirates also have top shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz on optional assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis. The 23-year-old made a brief big league cameo at the end of last year, but he was optioned to start this season. That seemed to be motivated, at least in part, by service time considerations. Cruz has now spent enough time in the minors that he wouldn’t automatically reach a full year of MLB service in 2022 even if he were called up for good today.

However, the new collective bargaining agreement grants a full season of service to top prospects who finish among their respective league’s top two in Rookie of the Year balloting. On the one hand, that’s a player-friendly provision; yet it can also disincentivize a team like the Pirates — amidst a full rebuild and not in position to compete in 2022 regardless — from calling up a player of Cruz’s talent level until deeper into the season to diminish the chances he compiles Rookie of the Year-caliber numbers to earn that bonus service year.

There’s also the simple matter of Cruz’s early performance in Indianapolis, which has not been good. He’s hitting .203/.288/.339 with just one homer through his first 66 plate appearances. It’s thus unsurprising Shelton didn’t sound as if the team were planning to bring Cruz up at this time. Asked if Cruz was an option to replace Newman, the skipper noted that “everybody in our system who’s on the roster at the upper levels will be given consideration” but added that “there’s still work (for Cruz) to be done. We’re focusing on what that work is” (Mackey links).

In other Pirates’ news, Shelton informed reporters that star outfielder Bryan Reynolds will be back on the roster tonight (via Persak). He hit the COVID list alongside Tucker yesterday, but it would appear he never tested positive and is currently asymptomatic.

Roster Notes: Twins, Marlins, Pirates, Yankees, Cubs, Phillies

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With the season just a few days away, roster decisions around the game continue to trickle in. We’ll round up some notable non 40-man roster decisions here.

    • Twins pitching prospect Jhoan Duran has made the Opening Day roster, per a club announcement. He’ll initially work out of the bullpen. Ranked the #9 prospect in the Minnesota organization by Baseball America, Duran draws praise for an upper-90s fastball and a power splitter that have helped him run plus strikeout rates throughout his minor league career.
    • The Marlins have informed outfielder Roman Quinn he will not make the Opening Day roster, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (Twitter link). It comes as a bit of a surprise, as Quinn had seemed the favorite for a fourth outfield role after the Fish released Delino DeShields Jr. over the weekend. Presumably, that job will fall to utilityman Jon Berti early on.
    • Infield prospect Diego Castillo has made the Pirates’ Opening Day roster, tweets Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Castillo, acquired in the trade that sent righty Clay Holmes to the Yankees, will make his big league debut the first time he gets into a game.
    • The Yankees announced they’ve reassigned outfielder Ender Inciarte and left-hander Manny Bañuelos to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Inciarte has an opt-out clause in his minor league deal and tells ESPN’s Marly Rivera he hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll accept the assignment to Triple-A.
    • The Cubs informed pitching prospect Ethan Roberts he’ll be on the Opening Day roster, he informed reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). A fourth-round pick in 2018 out of Tennessee Tech, the right-hander is the #33 prospect in the organization according to Baseball America. The reliever posted an even 3.00 ERA over 54 innings between Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa last season. The Cubs reassigned non-roster invitees Jonathan Holder, Robert Gsellman, Steven Brault, Stephen Gonsalves and Ildemaro Vargas to Iowa, tweets Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.
    • The Phillies reassigned non-roster invitees Ronald Torreyes, Yairo Muñoz and Dillon Maples to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, tweets Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Torreyes and Muñoz were competing for utility spots, while the hard-throwing Maples had been seeking a spot in the Philly bullpen.

 

Pirates Designate Jose Soriano For Assignment, Select Diego Castillo

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Nov 14: Soriano has cleared waivers and been returned to the Angels, per Jack Harris of the L.A. Times.

Nov 7: The Pirates announced that right-hander Jose Soriano has been designated for assignment.  The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for infielder Diego Castillo, whose contract has been selected to the 40-man.

Soriano threw only 3 2/3 innings for Pittsburgh’s A-ball affiliate in Bradenton this season, as the 23-year-old had to undergo his second Tommy John surgery in as many seasons.  Soriano first went under the knife in February 2020 when he was still a member of the Angels organization, but the Pirates rolled the dice and selected Soriano in last December’s Rule 5 draft.

Soriano’s latest surgery took place in mid-June, so considering the usual 13-15 month timeline for TJ recoveries and the fact that this is already Soriano’s second operation in such a brief period, it certainly doesn’t seem like he’ll see any action during the 2022 season.  It’s a brutal outcome for a youngster who showed such intriguing promise when pitching in the Angels’ farm system, as Soriano drew plenty of attention thanks to his big fastball and strikeout numbers.  Soriano has mostly worked as a starting pitcher, but he was seen as a potential power reliever or even a closer candidate thanks to his one-two punch of a fastball and curve, even if walks continued to be an issue.

Not to be confused with the veteran reliever of the same name, the Pirates’ Diego Castillo is a 24-year-old infielder who joined the organization from the Yankees this past July as part of the Clay Holmes trade.  Castillo hadn’t hit much over his first four minor league seasons, but after the canceled 2020 minor league campaign, his bat took a big step forward in his return to action.  Castillo hit .278/.355/.487 with 19 home runs in 440 total plate appearances in 2021, with those PA split over the Yankees’ Double-A team and the Pirates’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates.

Between this development at the plate and his ability to play second base, third base, and shortstop, Castillo has put himself on the radar as a candidate to reach the majors next season.  As noted by Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Castillo would’ve been eligible for minor league free agency if the Pirates hadn’t put him on the 40-man roster.

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