Cincinnati Reds’ Luis Castillo continues to impress

The Cincinnati Reds gave Luis Castillo a chance this season out of desperation and he’s paying that off.

The Cincinnati Reds were backed into a corner.  They had Homer Bailey coming off of the DL to face the Washington Nationals, but needed someone to start the series opener.  With injuries and pitchers out of sequence in the minors, the Reds went to their second to last option on the forty man roster in Luis Castillo.

Prior to his MLB debut, Castillo was one of only two pitchers on the forty man roster for the Reds not to spend any time with the team this season.  The other was the other guy in the MIke Leake deal, Keury Mella.  Now Mella is the only pitcher left for the Reds to call on in case of emergency.

The good news is that the Reds may not have another emergency this season.  Castillo has been impressive since his call up in June.  His record is 1-1 with a 1.39 WHIP, but that doesn’t tell an accurate story.

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Castillo has started four games for a team desperate for starting pitching.  With Homer Bailey and the number five spot in the rotation resembling a black hole when the Reds recalled Castillo, the team needed him to produce.  Castillo has produced better than the team expected.

Luis Castillo may have emerged as the best pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in the past few weeks.

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Castillo is averaging nearly six innings in his four starts so far in his career.  He has also struck out an amazing 30 batters in just 23 innings pitched.  Unfortunately, he has also walked an eye opening 10 batters.

The good news there is that he is allowing less than one hit per inning.  With his high strikeout rate it is not hard to imagine him getting that WHIP down to an elite level with a little more control.  He could also potentially sacrifice some strikeouts for fewer walks by making pitches more hittable.

Castillo, also, has given up five home runs already.  This is directly related to his high walk number.  When he gets behind, he grooves it and there goes the ball.

These are common issues for young pitchers.  As a 24-year old he is certainly young.  When the Reds traded Dan Straily, the thought was that Castillo would arrive in Cincinnati in 2018 the earliest, but here he is.

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Castillo has proven the Reds had a plan when the traded Straily.  Now he is in the rotation.  Hopefully, he is there to stay.