Luis Castillo’s strikeouts are overshadowed by his home runs allowed

Luis Castillo struck out a career-high 10 batters versus the Cardinals on Saturday. Unfortunately, he allowed 2 home runs as well.

Luis Castillo went six innings deep on Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Castillo struck out a career-high 10 batters. After a shaky start his last time out against the San Diego Padres, in which Castillo went only 4.2 innings, it was great to see the young pitcher find a groove and pound the strike zone. Unfortunately,  Castillo allowed 2 home runs as well.

On Saturday afternoon, Castillo retired the first two Cardinal batters on back-to-back strikeouts. He then allowed back-to-back home runs as Jose Martinez and Marcell Ozuna both knocked the ball over the wall.

A similar problem befell Friday’s starting pitcher Matt Harvey. Harvey allowed a two-out homer in the first inning to Martinez. Then, with two outs in the second inning, he allowed another home run over the left field wall to Yairo Munoz.

Luis Castillo has shown flashes and seems to be the best young pitcher on the Reds staff. In his six starts during the month of May, Castillo recorded 37 strikeouts in 33.2 innings pitched. A 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio is also very good for such a young pitcher.

Here’s the downside; Castillo has allowed a lot of home runs. He leads the Cincinnati Reds’ pitching staff in home runs allowed with 15. Tied with Castillo on that list is Homer Bailey, and he’s on the disabled list. That’s not a good look.

Over his last 3 starts, Castillo has struck out 19 batters, but has also allowed 4 home runs and has an ERA of 7.47. And before you want to point to the fact that Great American is a hitter-friendly park, remember that two of the three games were in pitcher-friendly parks – Chase Field and Petco Park.

There are positives to take away, as Castillo retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced. Castillo is young, only 25, and has a bright future ahead. But, in order to tap into his full potential he has to cut down on throwing pitches that leave the yard on his watch.