July 26: Castillo cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A St. Paul, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com on X.
July 24: The Twins announced Wednesday that they’ve designated infielder Diego Castillo for assignment and optioned right-hander Ronny Henriquez to Triple-A St. Paul. Their spots on the roster will go to reliever Brock Stewart, who’s been activated from the 60-day injured list, and righty David Festa, who’s been recalled from St. Paul.
Castillo, 26, appeared in four games with the Twins and went 2-for-6 with a double, two walks and a strikeout in eight plate appearances. He’s had a nice season in the minors as well, hitting a combined .274/.382/.403 in 296 plate appearances between the Triple-A affiliates for Baltimore and Minnesota. That marks the continuation of a long run of OBP-driven production in the upper minors. Castillo has played in parts of four Triple-A seasons, and while he doesn’t hit for a ton of power, he’s a .290/.402/.406 hitter in 1073 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s primarily been a shortstop (3906 innings) but also has 1922 innings at second base, 619 innings at third base, 535 innings in left field, 224 innings in right field and 66 innings at first base.
Despite that versatility and a strong Triple-A track record, Castillo hasn’t gotten much big league playing time. He made his debut with the 2022 Pirates and logged a career-high 283 plate appearances. However, he hit just .206/.251/.382. The D-backs gave him one big league plate appearance in 2023, and the Twins have given him all of eight.
It’s certainly arguable that Castillo deserves a longer look somewhere, but a Twins organization that’s deeper in the infield than anywhere else on the diamond was probably never going to have that opportunity. Even with each of Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa, Jose Miranda, Kyle Farmer and Alex Kirilloff on the injured list, Minnesota has Carlos Santana at first base, Edouard Julien at second base, All-Star Willi Castro at shortstop and top prospect Brooks Lee at third base. Several of the injured Twins will be back sooner than later, too. Lewis began a rehab assignment in Triple-A last night. Miranda will follow suit today.
Minnesota will either trade Castillo or place him on outright waivers within the next five days. Waivers themselves could be another 48-hour process. Castillo will know the outcome of his DFA within the next week.
As for Stewart, his return will be a significant boon for the Twins’ bullpen. The former Dodgers prospect has proven to be an exceptional find on a minor league pact. He’s missed time with injury in each of the past two seasons, but Stewart has added considerable velocity since his rotation days in the Dodgers’ system and has been a bullpen behemoth in Minnesota when healthy. He’s pitched 41 innings dating back to 2023 and carries a remarkable 0.66 ERA with a huge 34.8% strikeout rate against a 10.6% walk rate.
Stewart will slide right into a late-inning, high-leverage mix also including Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax and Jorge Alcala. Righty Justin Topa also also went out on a rehab assignment yesterday, providing another potential boost in the near future. He’s been out all season with a knee injury but posted a 2.61 ERA, 21.9% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk rate and 56.7% ground-ball rate in 69 innings for the Mariners last season. The Twins added Topa in the offseason trade that send Jorge Polanco to Seattle.
Twins getting healthy at the right time. Correa, Lewis and Miranda coming back should kickstart our lineup again:)
Some health and Pablo being Pablo is all they really need
Good to see you here TD buddy.
Angels should snag him and give him the next two months at the MLB level.
Castillo changes teams as often as Cole Tucker
Yeah, I bet it is hard for Vanessa Hudgens to move around the Country like that!
I wish the Twins had DFA’d Castillo before Monday’s game against the Phillies, during which he was a complete pain in the nuts (from the Phillies’ prospective, that is).
Seattle now needs a shortstop. And any live body that can hold a bat…
Castillo probably won’t clear waivers, but it would be nice to see him clear—not only could he be useful if injuries deplete the roster again, but the Twins could keep collecting Diegos Castillo.
(Caught “born 1997” to disambiguate him from the reliever in MLBTR’s player tags too.)
Good Braves candidate!
Dude never gets a full shot. He’s a decent hitter.
the dude got a full shot playing for the Pirates and failed to make his case to be a full time player
Agree but he showed some HR power and his batting average not so bad compared to some of our present day Pirates
A’s should grab Castillo
Next on the chopping block, Diego B Castillo.
Adams is terrible at writing. There should be no comma before “too.”