The Rockies have landed infielder Harold Castro on a minor league deal, MLBTR can confirm. The move was first reported by Efrain Zavarce of IVC Networks. The deal comes with an invite to major league spring training. Castro is represented by the MAS+ Agency.
Castro, 29, put up a .271/.300/.381 line with seven home runs over 443 plate appearances for the Tigers last year, good for a wRC+ of 94, or a bit below league average. Castro is a utility player in every sense of the word, and appeared at every position bar catcher and right field in 2022. The bulk of that work was logged in the infield, with a fairly even split around the four positions.
Originally signed by the Tigers back in 2011 out of Venezuela, Castro had spent his entire career with the organization. He debuted with a ten plate appearance cup of coffee in 2018, and went on to appear in 351 games for the Tigers over the next five seasons, putting up a combined .284/.309/.377 line with 15 home runs in that time.
Castro should compete for a bench spot in spring, and would seem to have a decent chance of making the roster. Elehuris Montero can cover the corner infield spots, but the Rockies don’t currently have a clear backup for rookie shortstop Ezequiel Tovar.
Shows you what an utter failure Al Avila’s tenure was when this guy was the Tigers “best” hitter the past few years. Wish Hittin’ Harold all the best though.
As Harold was already up for 4 years, he is really from DD’s regime. Under DD, and Mr. I, they did not care about the minor league teams. It was DD starting to change directions that got him fired. AA had to start from scratch and his players are just now arriving. Greene, Torkelson, Mize, Skubal, Manning, Baddoo, Kreidler, Rogers, Lange, Vest, Wentz, Faedo, Brieske, Hill…If the Tigers rebound this year, it will be because of what Avila did. Hittin’ Harold should easily make the Rockies bench better!
So Castro was Dave’s fault, but will make the Rockies much better? Which is it?
Even if Dave signed him, Avila chose to keep him. Harold makes no one “much better” – he doesn’t walk, has no power. and is a lousy defender.
Avila’s tenure was a failure indeed, but last year had a lot of bad luck in it as well. Noone expected the Tigers to be so bad.
Too many veterans hit far beyond their usual level (like Grossman, Candelario, Barnhart or Schoop), Meadows was injured and several young players simply struggled. That was the reason H. Castro stood out.
Gruß,
BSHH
Exactly! I’m extremely excited about the shift rules now. I have a feeling that there’s going to be alotta players improve on their seasons
Alan Trejo is the back up shortstop.
I wonder if Simon is using Fangraphs depth charts for the article because they don’t have Trejo on the 26-man. They do have Castro as the only backup too.
The Rockies very much do have a middle infield backup. His name is Alan Trejo, and he hit 271/312/424 in the majors last year. Unlike Castro, he’s also an excellent defender.
It’s a “pending” MLB deal. Just on a minor league deal until roster space is cleared before opening day.
He’s on a minor league deal because he has to prove he can make the major league team. Until then, they don’t need to waste a 40 man roster spot on him.
He’d be one of the best players on the Phillies bench.
after they traded their b team off the bench to DET, yeah most likely
The article three below says the Rockies aren’t making significant moves this offseason. What do you call this?
Very significant for the Rockies lol even tho this news broke like a week ago not sure why it’s now here.
The Rockies have actually signed, claimed or traded for 16 pitchers ( 11 minor league ) this off season. Basically got some major league depth. Bolstered the bullpen and got minor league depth.
This signing happened a few days ago. MLBTR (understandably) missed it.
The Castro signing hasn’t even been listed on MLB.com so even though it got reported by another website over a week ago it’s not official yet so this website didn’t miss it.
Trejo!! Could even beat out Tovar to start the season! (Although I doubt it).
I can’t believe the Tigers let him go. One of my favorites. Rockies fans won’t be disappointed by Hittin’ Harold. He won’t belt a ton of homers, but he’s a guy that’ll deliver a clutch hit more times than average. Best of luck in Denver.
Completely agree. Last season Hittin’ Harold was the only guy I trusted in the clutch. I’m disappointed the Tigers couldn’t bring him back on a minor league deal. Every contending team needs at least one Hittin’ Harold type, but you can’t contend if everyone is a Hittin’ Harold type. Scott Harris knows you can always pick up a guy like that. Good luck Harold!
From the looks of things other than promising prospects and players signed to multi year contracts Harris is getting rid of the rest,which is probably good since most were not worth keeping.So far after so many people got so exited about Harris taking over i’m not seeing any moves that are exiting me.As far as Castro goes he was a clutch player at times but not good enough to be a really good regular player which is what we really need.Some people get caught up with having fav players but i’m a team 1st type of fan,I root for the English D and hope one of these days even though i watch every game i’ll actually be watching a winning team instead of this nonsense we’ve been stuck with.
He’s replacement level and has never not been. You all need to shoot higher, Tigers fans.
IMO & generally speaking, Detroit fans far more love the individual player in comparison to the team.
The later successes of Matthew Stafford and JV are 2 examples that come to mind.
Hello Newman Not true!!! JV won Rookie of the Year, as well as a Cy Young and MVP while taking the Tigers to 2 World Series and 4 Division Titles while with the Tigers so the team was very good during his first 9 seasons
Stafford led the Lions to 4 playoff berths but the D was suspect wh cost us games
So yes Detroit fans appreciate our individual stars but we really want a winning team to support and star players typically create winning teams. Keep in mind the Red Wings won 4 Stanley Cups between 1997 and 2008 while the Pistons claimed 3 Championships between 1989 and 2004 so we know what a winning team looks like
I never said DET fans don’t appreciate winning, nor did I say they never won.
I’ve never understood that mentality were some mlb fans root more for individuals so much so that they follow players even when they get traded or become free agents,You’d never see me with a Tigers jersey with a players name on it as i’m a fan of the team,which makes more sense to me as it is a team sport,I have to admit as far as Stafford goes after playing for the pathetic Lions,i was happy to see him get a ring as soon as he left since he endured being a Lion but i didn’t become a Rams fan.
He’s a bench player. If he was a solid, well above average in everyway, player, he’d be a starter. Carpenter doing what he did with the Yanks last year was unexpected. Its also why he earned a platoon role this year, at a much higher price. That’s not the norm. A good bench player is versatile, and can provide a spark when he plays. That’s Harold. Will Maton be better? Unknown. It only cost the Tigers their closer so they can find out. The Tigers Bench of Castro, Castro, and Reyes was not the problem on last years team.
Yes, Harold is versatile. He can play several different positions (poorly). I’d prefer it if he could play one position well. Or if he was a good hitter.
They should have dumped him sooner. Harold is a replacement level player, nothing more. Career 90 OPS+ and lousy defense.
Harold’s defense is better than you think. His defense was at least competent everywhere but third base. And he didn’t know which of six positions he’d be playing on a given day.
Stats say otherwise and not knowing where you’re going to play is the job description of a utility player, but somehow you have more insight than 30 general managers?
He gets exposed playing everyday and he got more ABs last year than he should have thanks to the whole team’s en masse offensive collapse. I think Maton starts the year as our 3B not backup IF (Andy Ibanez and Kreidler are my picks for that role). Let the young guys play for the bench spot…or more if any of the incumbents continue to struggle (Schoop, Cabrera). They cost less and the production will likely be similar.
Andy Ibanez is not young he’s 29 and probably will spend most of the time in minors like he did with Texas last year.He didn’t have good numbers in the 40 games he did play in the bigs last year.Hopefully he does do something for Tigers but i’m not counting on it.
Well, this settles the question as to whether DET brings him back in some fashion. Sometimes it’s easier to move forward when you can’t go back.
The Royals would sign me if I had an agent and he asked them to…
Garrett Hampson without the speed and ability to play CF
Not even close. Totally different players. Castro can actually hit.
Certainly not the Rockies signing, had a chance to stick
can’t wait for him to bat .310/.340/.340 with a negative WAR next year
And -15 Defensive Runs Saved.
Hittin’ Harold !!
Our best hitter from 2022…..gone !
Haase was the Tigers’ best hitter in 2022.
Clutch.
Wish Hitting Harold the best. Hope he makes the team.
Tigers are going to be really bad on their regressive rebuild this year. Pretty hard on Tiger fans
I can see a big season coming from hitting herald
Especially in the thin atmosphere !
2019 I go to an Erie Seawolves vs the Hartford Yard Goats to see Casey Mize pitch. He didn’t disappoint. However, the guy who jumped off the page to me was this guy named Harold Castro. He hit bullets. Did not swing and miss. Got on base. Made plays. I said to my buddy, “That guy will play in the ML’s..”
While he didn’t become a star he did become a reliable utility piece. He made some plays, he hit for average. As a Tiger fan I appreciated his approach and contributions.
Good luck, Harold, in Denver.
He deserves a shot somewhere besides Detroit, he was a decent bat in Detroit for bench player, Colorado could be his start