The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve traded minor league infielder/outfielder Diego Castillo to the Twins in exchange for cash. He’s not to be confused with veteran reliever Diego Castillo — the former Mariners/Rays closer and setup man who also joined the Twins on a minor league deal last week.
This latest trade will bring the younger, 26-year-old Castillo to the Twins. It was an eventful offseason for the versatile utilityman, who bounced from the D-backs, to the Mets, to the Yankees, to the Phillies, to the Orioles via the DFA carousel in a span of about two months. The Orioles finally succeeded in sneaking Castillo through waivers back in February, retaining him without needing to dedicate a spot on the 40-man roster. He’ll now join an incredible sixth organization in the past four months. Since the O’s outrighted Castillo back in February, he won’t need to go onto the Twins’ 40-man roster and can head right to their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul.
Castillo spent the 2023 season with the D-backs organization but only appeared in one big league game and went hitless in his only plate appearance. He’d picked up 283 plate appearances with the Pirates a year prior but managed only a .206/.251/.382 batting line in what was his MLB debut effort.
The majority of Castillo’s 2023 season was spent with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate in Reno, where he posted an excellent .313/.431/.410 slash with more walks (17.4%) than strikeouts (14.2%) in 556 plate appearances. He played second base, shortstop, third base and left field in Reno. Castillo has played 177 career games in Triple-A and is a .296/.410/.407 hitter.
Castillo doesn’t have much power but has long drawn praise for his plus hit tool, which is evidenced by his minimal strikeout rates. He pairs that with a keen eye at the plate, a bit of speed and plenty of defensive versatility, even if he’s not regarded as a plus defender anywhere on the diamond. The Twins recently lost third baseman Royce Lewis to a quad strain, and top infield prospect Brooks Lee is out until late April due to a back injury. They recalled prospect Austin Martin to replace Lewis on the big league roster, and his departure from St. Paul, coupled with Lee’s injury, likely pushed the Twins to acquire some additional depth in the form of Castillo.
I hope he’ll be able to stick with the Twins, the list of teams he’s been DFA’d from is crazy long
Saints need enough players ig?
What is the most organizations a player has been a part of in one calender year? This is his sixth since the start of 2024, and I could definitley see him with at least one more MLB team before December 31st.
As long as he doesn’t return to Pittsburgh
He’s been a part of most MLB teams now. Time to join the Asian migration of former Pirates. I’m sure the Hiroshima Carp would be interested
Wonder what motivates teams to trade a player for “cash”. Probably an insignificant amount. Obviously the Orioles don’t need this guy, but why give him away? Is he clogging a single A roster spot? Maybe they are doing the Twins a solid with the hopes that they’ll be a friendly trade partner down the road?
It’s the least the O’s could do after being gifted Coulombe, Cano & Povich for the low price of Jorge Lopez & cash.
What might motivate a team to offer cash in a trade is that’s all that’s being offered
The Twins are collecting Diegos Castillo.
It’s the new market inefficiency
It’s the new way to have an extra guy on the roster. “Oh no, I meant it to be this Diego” wouldn’t look too suspicious a few times a year
They have twin Diego Castillo’s!
Gotta catch ’em all, even if they are infielders.
Man this guy has been all over the place this offseason. Hope he sticks around in the Twins org for a while so he doesn’t have to keep bouncing around. Twins now have both the Diego Castillo’s lol. I’m sure there is more in milb but they have to two most known ones
I still believe that MLBPA should set itself up like the Actors Guild and require each new member of the union to have a unique name to keep things straight. Even something as simple as a slight spelling change or even going with the English translation of James. It’s just too difficult to keep track of all of these marginal guys.
Perhaps using a middle initial if they have one.
MLB The Show lists the two Luis Garcias as (reliever) Luis Garcia and (starting pitcher) Luis H. Garcia.
(double Spider-Man)
Fun fact, “castillo” means “spider web” in Spanish.
And Diego means father. Oh what a cute baby what’s his name? Father Spider Web. Americans should start doing things like this…now starting for the Minnesota Twins Mudpuppy Tree Branch!
Been termed traded for cash for at least 20 years, probably longer.
Selling people has been outlawed since 1865.
Traded his contract, not sold his existence.
In support of the organization’s dual Diego Castillo’s,
The Twins have designs on adding another pair;
Twins have reached out to LARRY to check the availability of:
His brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl !!
When sending fanmail to St. Paul, please address with a middle name.
Just checked- the pitcher doesn’t have a middle name…
Just checked, neither one gets fan mail.
I think Norfolk wanted to release him because he was only hitting .308
Next question is who falls out of Baltimore’s infield rotation? I’d guess Kemp, but still think Holliday stays in Norfolk until June. Maybe Norby comes up?
Twinkies are like wot? You’re not the pitcher?