White Sox catcher Welington Castillo has formally concluded his 80-game PED suspension, but he won’t be going straight from the restricted list onto the active roster. The Chicago organization announced today that the veteran will instead move onto the 10-day disabled list with shoulder inflammation.
Castillo, 31, got off to a strong start at the plate this year after inking a two-year, $15MM contract early last winter. He was producing at a .267/.309/.466 clip with six home runs in 123 plate appearances when news broke of his positive test for erythopoieton, a substance prohibited under the MLB-MLBPA Joint Drug Agreement.
Though he had played in five rehab games prior to the conclusion of his suspension, Castillo is evidently not ready to return to the majors. It’s not clear at this point how long he’ll be down, but any minute chance of a late-August trade can assuredly be ruled out.
In his absence, the White Sox have relied upon Omar Narvaez and Kevan Smith behind the plate. The former has been quite impressive with the bat, improving upon his solid numbers entering the year with an under-the-radar breakout season. He’s hitting at a .280/.374/.435 clip with an impressive 41:30 K/BB ratio in 240 plate appearances.
Presumably, Castillo will share time with Narvaez when this DL stint is over. But it stands to reason that the organization will want to get a long look at the younger, more controllable player. It’s certainly possible that Castillo will end up as trade fodder at some point, but it’s also worth bearing in mind that the South Siders could see the ensuing offseason as an opportune time to make some roster improvements in hopes of challenging in a division that has easily been the worst in baseball in 2018. Hanging onto Castillo, rather than trying to move him after a messy campaign, may well be the most sensible approach.
Don’t know anything about Narvaez but his obp at pretty much every level he has played at has been well above average. How is his defense? Can he hit same handed pitching?
As a Sox fan, this is my observation of watching him over the past few years. He has progressively getting better offensively, been getting more patient seeing more pitches while batting and usually has pretty good at bats. He doesn’t strike out a lot. He is built like a catcher, very slow runner but seems to call a good game and block well. He doesn’t have super quick feet or release on his throws to bases trying to throw out runners. His arm is pretty good but not great. I think he only throws out around 25% of runners. I don’t really see him facing lefties often. Overall, he is a serviceable backup/ platoon guy. Hope that helps.
It does, thanks.
Narvaez is bad at blocking, and bad at framing. BP has him as the worst defensive catcher in baseball right now. His hitting has fallen off a table against lefties this season.
Based on baseball reference. Defensively he’s a liability and had a pretty poor pitch framing. Offensively has always been better in terms of plate disciple and production. Big reason his bat is in the line up.
Horrible defender. Has always had a good eye and made solid contact at the plate. However, this is the first year he’s hitting the ball with a little authority, which is a nice development. As long as he keeps hitting the ball hard, he’s serviceable (for a mediocre team). If the power goes away like we’ve become used to, he’s pretty close to unplayable.
So basically a reverse Ramon Castro?
I like Joey Pankake. Go Gamecocks!
“The veteran will instead move onto the 10-day disabled list with ‘shoulder inflammation.'”
How the heck did Castillo get shoulder inflammation? From throwing balls to himself?
It’s not too difficult to imagine a catcher who hasn’t played for the better part of the season getting a sore shoulder during his 5 game rehab stint at AAA, no? That’s comparable to playing less than a week of spring training baseball.
could the Sox have put him on the DL so they can bring him up when the rosters expand?
That’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking it’s an overexaggerated injury in order to wait for when the rosters expand. But maybe MacPhisto is right.
Exactly how were they “performance-enhancing”?