Jays’ brothers in arms on verge of big break
One used his bonus money to pay for surgeries his parents couldn’t afford. The other used his to buy a house for his mother and put his siblings in private school.
Their remarkable right arms lifted Miguel Castro and Roberto Os- una from humble circumstances. The circumstances have changed, but the humility remains, which may explain why both use the same word to describe their status when they reported to the Toronto Blue Jays camp last month. Guests. They were invited. They would visit and enjoy the hospitality, but they would not stay long, returning in a couple of weeks to the more humble circumstances of minorleague camp.
Instead, they have stayed and become the big story of the spring: a couple of kids looking for all the world like accomplished majorleague pitchers, now just awaiting the formal announcement, expected to come on Saturday.
“I never thought about the pos- sibility because I was here as a guest,” says Castro, the six-footfive beanpole with lightning in his long arm. “But as time went by, I started trying harder, to show that I can do it.”
Says Osuna, a fireballer like his friend: “If I make the team, I’m going to give more than my 100 per cent. And I feel prepared. I think I’m ready for that responsibility.”
Their new status as a big-league duo was assured on Friday when Kyle Drabek was claimed off waivers by the White Sox.
They have stuck together all spring and at Yankee Stadium on April 6, they will likely find themselves at adjacent lockers, just as they did in Dunedin.