The Yankees announced that they have selected right-hander Kervin Castro to their 40-man roster. The move prevents him from becoming a minor league free agent. They had several 40-man spaces available due to players recently becoming free agents.
New York took Castro in the second round of the Triple-A portion of the Rule 5 draft in 2023 from Houston. He missed the entire 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Castro made 35 appearances for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this past season, pitching to a 1.53 ERA with a solid 27.4% strikeout rate. He earned four saves and five wins as a member of the RailRiders’ bullpen.
The 26-year-old Castro has pitched in pro ball for the past decade. He signed with San Francisco as a 16-year-old in 2015. He made his debut in Rookie ball the following year. Injuries cost Castro all of 2017 and most of 2018, but he put together a solid 2019 at Single-A. The right-hander made 14 starts, posting a 2.66 ERA across 67 2/3 innings. The strong season bumped Castro all the way to Triple-A in 2021 (the 2020 minor league season was canceled).
Castro, now operating strictly as a reliever, struck out 32.8% of batters with Triple-A Sacramento. Opponents hit just .195 over 44 innings against him. San Francisco called up Castro in the final weeks of the 2021 campaign. He excelled in his first taste of the highest level, blanking opponents across 10 appearances. His 13 1/3 scoreless innings came with nearly a strikeout per frame. Castro was back with the big-league club in April the following season, but he was pounded for five earned runs over 1 2/3 innings. He spent the next three months with Sacramento before being scooped up off waivers by the Cubs. Castro continued to struggle with Chicago, recording a 7.59 ERA across eight outings.
Detroit grabbed Castro as a minor league free agent following the 2022 campaign. He made 10 appearances with Triple-A Toledo before going down with an injury. Detroit let him go in August. Houston added Castro in minor league free agency, but he would only spend a couple of weeks in the organization.
Castro is still young and has shown enough flashes when healthy to be worth keeping in the organization. It might take an injury or two, but he could factor in as a multi-inning reliever with the Yankees at some point this season.
I must comment on a minor league player I am not familiar with.
oddly it is one I am familiar with
When Castro broke out with the Giants in 2021 I thought he’d be a star. He ended up struggling and was let go.
Hope he can find success again.
I’ve never heard of him, but okay. I guess he’s good. Hopefully, he replaces Leiter or someone else
I believe he still has minor league options. He’s depth for AAA. I hope they aim higher when looking to add to the bullpen
I believe injuries, too? He was picked up by the Yankees two years ago in the minor league rule 5; his name stuck out to me because it’s not often you get a minor league rule 5 guy with MLB service time. Then he didn’t pitch last year
Kervin Castro = ’24 Luke Weaver