The Minnesota Twins recalled right-hander Diego Castillo from Triple-A St. Paul on Tuesday and transferred reliever Justin Topa (knee) to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move to make room for Castillo on the 40-man roster. Castillo is a veteran of six major-league seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners. He's a sinker-slider reliever with mid-90s velocity, a 3.22 ERA and 304 strikeouts in 268 career MLB innings. The 30-year-old earned the call-up to the big leagues by posting a 2.50 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP, five saves and 22 strikeouts in 18 relief innings for St. Paul. The Dominican reliever has 35 saves in his six major-league seasons and will give the Twins some veteran setup depth in the later innings moving forward.
The Texas Rangers signed free-agent right-handers Diego Castillo, Jesus Tinoco and Gerardo Carrillo, outfielders Sandro Fabian, Elier Hernandez and Derek Hill, and catcher Andrew Knapp to minor-league deals with invitations to major-league spring training on Wednesday. Castillo, 29, allowed six earned runs in just 8 2/3 relief innings for the Seattle Mariners this year, but he saved a career-high 16 games in 2021 with the M's and Tampa Bay Rays and will give the Rangers some experienced relief depth entering the 2024 campaign. Knapp, 32, has spent parts of six seasons in the big leagues with four different teams and has slashed .209/.310/.313 with 13 home runs and 66 RBI in 325 games. The switch-hitting backstop hit .233 (73-for-313) with nine home runs and 29 RBI in 93 games with Triple-A Sugar Land and Triple-A Toledo with the Astros and Tigers, respectively.
Seattle Mariners reliever Diego Castillo has been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. Castillo has struggled, as have most of the Mariners, so this shouldn't come as too much of a shock. The 29-year-old right-hander posted a rough 6.23 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, and 7:7 K/BB ratio over 8 2/3 innings out of the bullpen so far this year. His services will likely be called upon again soon with the big league club so he shouldn't be in the minors for too long.
Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Diego Castillo lost his salary arbitration case against the team on Wednesday, according to a source. Castillo will make $2.95 million in 2023, instead of the $3.225 million he filed for. In his first full season with the Mariners in 2022, Castillo went 7-3 with a 3.64 ERA (3.68 FIP), 1.14 WHIP, seven saves, 22 walks and 53 strikeouts in 54 1/3 relief innings over 59 appearances out of the bullpen. The 29-year-old right-hander could see a handful of save chances again in 2023, but he'll mostly be serving as a late-inning setup man in Seattle's bullpen alongside Andres Munoz. Paul Sewald is coming off injury, but he's projected to begin the year as the M's primary closer.
Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Diego Castillo (shoulder) threw a bullpen session on Friday when the team opened their homestand against the Los Angeles Angels, and his shoulder is "feeling much better," according to skipper Scott Servais. Castillo will likely throw another bullpen session before returning from the injured list. The 28-year-old was always likely to return after missing the minimum 15 days on the injured list after landing there with right shoulder inflammation. Andres Munoz and Matt Festa have seen increased work at the back end of the bullpen with Castillo sidelined ahead of closer Paul Sewald. Castillo will return to a 3.93 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, six saves and 36 strikeouts in 36 2/3 relief innings for Seattle.
The Seattle Mariners placed relief pitcher Diego Castillo (shoulder) on the 15-day injured list on Thursday with right shoulder inflammation and recalled right-hander Matt Brash from Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding move. Castillo's injured-list placement is retroactive to July 26. On the season, the 28-year-old Dominican has gone 7-1 with a 3.93 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, six saves, four holds, 36 strikeouts and 17 walks in 36 2/3 innings in his second season with Seattle, mainly in a late-inning setup role in front of closer Paul Sewald. Andres Munoz and Matt Festa will see more late-inning work with Castillo on the sidelines for at least the next two weeks. In Castillo's last outing on Monday against the Texas Rangers, he allowed a solo home run while walking one and striking out one in one-third of an inning to pick up his fourth hold.
Seattle Mariners reliever Diego Castillo worked a scoreless ninth inning on Thursday to close out his team's 6-5 comeback win over the Rangers. With Paul Sewald picking up two saves during Wednesday's doubleheader, it was Castillo who got the call to close out his sixth game of the year in this one. The right-hander promptly retired the first two batters he faced on a groundout and a strikeout, but would allow Marcus Semien to reach second base after he took a comebacker off his hip and then recklessly threw the ball into left field. Castillo went on to intentionally walk Corey Seager before getting Adolis Garcia to fly out and end the game. Sewald is the clear favorite for saves in the M's pen, but Castillo will continue to pick up the scraps whenever he needs a night off.
Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Diego Castillo picked up his third save of the season in Monday's 7-4 win over the Astros. Castillo entered to pitch the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He got the first two outs on a ground out and line out, walked a batter, and then got the final out on another ground out. The 28-year-old has converted all three of his save opportunities this season and has a 3-0 record, but he also has a 5.85 ERA and 4.05 BB/9 rate over 20 innings pitched. The Mariners have not had a clear approach to saves this season, and Castillo's poor overall performance limits his fantasy value at this time, even in deep roto leagues.
Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Diego Castillo is starting at second base and batting fifth on Sunday against St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Steven Matz. Castillo is getting his first start of the season for the Bucs. Hoy Park has only started one of the team's first three games at the keystone. Castillo had a 1.281 OPS and six home runs in 14 Grapefruit League games and could carve out more playing time early on if he can continue to swing a hot bat. The 24-year-old Venezuelan has one double in four at-bats so far this year in his MLB debut. Castillo .278/.355/.487 with 19 home runs, 55 RBI, 73 runs scored and nine stolen bases in 440 plate appearances over 105 games with three different minor league teams in 2021.
Seattle Mariners pitcher Diego Castillo struck out two over a perfect inning to earn the save in Saturday's 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins. Mariners manager Scott Servais went to Drew Streckenrider for the save opportunity in the first game of the series but decided to roll with Castillo on Saturday. The 28-year-old was Seattle's primary setup man after being traded from the Rays to the Mariners during last year's trade deadline. He has closer experience and converted 16-of-22 saves for the Rays/Mariners in 2021. Based on the first two games, Seattle might use a closer-by-committee approach the rest of the way, but it remains to be seen. Fantasy managers desperate for saves should look to add Castillo off the waiver wire.
