Luis Miguel Castillo is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball. He previously played for the Cincinnati Reds. He made his MLB debut in 2017. Castillo is a two-time All-Star.
Luis Castillo: Wiki| Fangraphs| Hair| Mets trade| Twins trade
Wiki:
Castillo signed with the San Francisco Giants as an international free agent in December 2011. He made his professional debut in 2012 with the DSL Giants and spent the whole season there, going 1–3 with a 3.31 ERA in 54.1 relief innings pitched.
In 2013, he returned there, going 0–1 with a 0.64 ERA in 27 relief appearances, and in 2014, he played for the Augusta GreenJackets where he pitched to a 2–2 record and 3.07 ERA in 48 relief appearances.
Fangraphs:
With the Mariners in a wild-card position and looking to end an epic playoff drought that dates back to the stone ages (at least in sports years) of 2001, you knew general manager Jerry Dipoto was going to make a move — and maybe a big one. He didn’t disappoint.
The Mariners were believed to be one of the leading contenders to acquire Juan Soto, but Dipoto instead snapped up Castillo, viewed as the top starting pitcher available (barring a shocking Shohei Ohtani trade), and outbidding teams like the Yankees, Dodgers and Cardinals who were also in hot pursuit of Castillo.
Hair:
Somehow, in the many decades of the New York Yankees‘ facial hair and grooming policy, the edict has always managed to be a begrudging annoyance and a point of mockery, but never a dealbreaker.
Castillo created additional buzz in the Bronx by dominating on Thursday night — if it was even possible for him to be more beloved than he had been entering the series — combining a filthy fastball with a darting changeup to allow just two hits and one run in seven innings.
Mets trade:
The Mariners made a major splash ahead of the Trade Deadline, acquiring Reds ace Luis Castillo in a blockbuster deal on Friday night.
Seattle sent four players to Cincinnati in return for Castillo, including three of its top five prospects. The return package included shortstops Noelvi Marte (the Mariners’ No. 1 prospect) and Edwin Arroyo (No. 3), as well as right-handers Levi Stoudt (No. 5) and Andrew Moore.
Twins Trade:
“All of these kids, they’re so much a part of what we’ve been building toward, and ultimately we knew that there would come a time where we’d feel like it was our time to take a step forward,” said Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto.
“This is why you build stronger, deep organizations. The talent that these guys bring to the table allowed us to go out and get what we thought was the top pitcher on the market, and really, what we thought was one of the better pitchers in baseball right now.”
Combined with Luis Severino hitting the IL with a “low-grade” lat strain, the timing could not have been more perfect for a rumored Castillo chase to take center stage.
