Castillo’s return performance gives Reds hope for turnaround
On March 14, when the Cincinnati Reds traded left fielder Jesse Winker and third baseman Eugenio Suárez to the Seattle Mariners, Reds general manager Nick Krall was asked whether or not the Reds were about to start a complete rebuild.
Krall responded by explaining some of the strengths of the Reds. The first player he named was starting pitcher Luis Castillo.
Castillo missed the first month of the season with a shoulder injury, and the Reds started the season with a 5-23 record. An inexperienced rotation posted the highest ERA in MLB.
Castillo returned for the Reds on Monday and made his 2022 debut. He showed the experience and the confidence on the mound that the Reds had been missing, and he helped lead the team to a 10-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
“Luis is a great competitor,” Reds shortstop Kyle Farmer said. “He competes in a different way where he just goes out there and is very loose and keeps things loose, he's laughing at guys swinging at his pitches. It's a breathe of fresh air seeing him on the mound. I'm glad to see he's healthy.”
In so many games this year, the Reds fell behind early and never recovered. In a few more, the Reds got a short outing from their starting pitcher and had the bullpen give up the lead when it had to cover six or seven innings.
Castillo wasn't at his best on Monday, and he allowed three runs in 5 2⁄3 innings on 87 pitches. But he showed flashes of what makes him one of the best starters in the division.
The Brewers whiffed at the first five changeups they swung at, and Castillo was back to hopping on the mound after strikeouts and smiling after a perfectly placed pitch.
“The first couple innings, (the changeup) was really solid, perfect to be honest,” Castillo said via interpreter Jorge Merlos. “In the fourth inning, it was a little bit off, but we were able to make adjustments to get out of that inning.”
His command tailed off at the end of his start, and Castillo wasn't built up to throw 100 pitches in his first game back. The Reds were trailing 3-1 when Castillo left the game, but he still had one of the most efficient starts by a Reds starting pitcher this season.
“Not midseason form by any means, but (there's a) confidence that (he) gives your team when he's on the mound,” Reds manager David Bell said. “Getting the three scoreless innings. Giving us a good start to the game to give us an opportunity to be in it like that. He stabilized the game and he can absolutely stabilize a rotation, we've seen that for a long time now.”