Ryan Castellani, Arizona Fall League
With his elbow healthy, Ryan Castellani is raring to go in the Arizona Fall League.
The 23-year-old right-hander, one of the top pitching prospects in the Rockies’ organization, was limited to 10 starts for Triple-a Albuquerque this season due to bone fragments in his elbow. Castellani had surgery in June to remove the fragments and is eager to showcase his rehabilitated arm for a second consecutive fall against the minors’ best hitters.
“I had a pretty good April, and then after four starts, out of nowhere my elbow kind of blew up,” Castellani said. “The morning after a start, I couldn’t move it and it was stuck at 90 degrees, completely swollen. I got another MRI, and there were some bone chips in there. The bone fragments had gotten into the joint and caused a ton of swelling.”
After going on the injured list on May 6, Castellani initially received a cortisone shot in his elbow to reduce the swelling and returned to the Isotopes later in the month. He made five more starts but his elbow still didn’t feel right, at which time he opted for surgery. He finished 2-5 with an 8.31 ERA.
His final outing of the Triple-a season — a three-inning, eight-run disaster June 13 — cemented the idea he should have surgery as his usually mid-90s fastball was clocking at 89 mph.
“There was still a lot of clicking that I was dealing with,” Castellani said. “That was the bone chip in the back of that elbow, just in the way. I’d have to figure out a way to get it to click, by shaking and moving my arm. It got to be too much because I couldn’t really get extension on my pitches.”
Colorado had known of the presence of the bone fragments from the time he was drafted in the second round in 2014, but they had never affected the pitcher until this year. Castellani is confident the issue’s behind him now as the fragments have been removed.
After posting a 5.13 ERA in seven starts in the Arizona Fall League last year, he’ll make his 2019 league debut for the Salt River Rafters on Sept. 19.
“My number one goal is to get as many innings as I can, because that’s the number one thing that I need in order to be fully functional for next year as well,” Castellani said. “I hope to get up to 80, 90 innings for the season (from 41 L).”