Miguel Castro

Mets: Miguel Castro has the tools to become an impact reliever

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The Mets‘ new people in charge, starting with owner Steve Cohen, president Sandy Alderson, and general manager Jared Porter, understand the importance of having a good bullpen. They already signed top reliever Trevor May and added some upside and upper-minors depth. Names like Sam McWilliams, Jacob Barnes, Jerry Blevins, and Trevor Hildenberger are now part of the organization and will fight for a spot.

Additionally, the Mets have Seth Lugo, Jeurys Familia, Dellin Betances (a reclamation project with high-reward potential), and Robert Gsellman in addition to closer Edwin Diaz. But they also have an interesting project in Miguel Castro.

Former Mets’ general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, not on the team anymore, traded pitching prospect Kevin Smith to the Orioles in exchange for Castro, to that point an inconsistent reliever with a big arm.

For a guy who can comfortably reach 98 mph with his sinker, Castro’s career numbers are quite underwhelming. He has a 4.29 ERA, but with mediocre 4.92 FIP and xFIP marks, and with only 7.44 K/9 and 4.67 BB/9, he hasn’t been exactly dominant.

The Mets’ righty had a career-high swinging-strike rate in 2020

However, 2020 brought an interesting development for the Mets’ hard-throwing righty. Yes, the sample size is small, but in 24.2 innings, he upped his K/9 to 13.86, enough to rank in the 90th percentile in K%. He increased his swinging strike percentage from 11.6 in 2019 to 13.5 in 2020, almost two percentage points.

He can have issues with talks, but if he maintains his bat-missing gains, Castro could be a weapon from the Mets’ bullpen. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner will try to preach more of the same, but trying to play to his strengths.

In 2020, Castro’s slider had a 48.3 whiff rate, and his changeup had a 36.0 mark. Those are numbers you can certainly work with.

If the Mets can get Castro to throw strikes more consistently, he can improve the 4.01 ERA he had in 2020 and take another step forward in his game.

New York Mets Player Evaluations: Pitcher Miguel Castro

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The electric Miguel Castro brought his sidearm style to the New York Mets at the 2020 trade deadline. He emerged as a useful reliever in the Baltimore Orioles bullpen, former GM Brodie Van Wagenen thought Castro would make a terrific addition to the Mets late-inning staff.

Castro had not put it all together yet to rise to an All-Star capable level, but the stuff was there for him. For the first time in his career, he was finding success as a strikeout pitcher. In his two months with the Orioles, he had a 4.02 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched with 24 strikeouts. Castro’s 2.9 BB/9 were on pace to be the best of his career but ran into control issues again with the Mets.

New Face in Flushing

Castro allowed runs in two of his first four Mets outings, which included an extra-innings loss against the Philadelphia Phillies. Five of the final six outings were scoreless, but Castro ran into control issues. During this span of games with the Mets, we saw Castro’s peaks and valleys on the mound. He looks electric with his sinker/slider combination in some outings, and in others, he shows the extra work he still needs.

Castro has the potential to be an elite reliever, but his consistency holds him back. Due to his sidearm motion, his mechanics are tough to repeat and have led to his erratic control. Castro tends to throw a pitch without any idea where it will end up, leading to his sinker finishing up in the zone. This is why hitters to the most damage off it and nothing off slider and changeup, which has better control.

As the Mets head into the 2021 season, Castro is a good option to a deep bullpen. He has a 4.06 ERA over the last four seasons, and his increased strikeout rate is a good thing to bank on. Castro has strikeouts stuff and is not far from being a reliever whose ERA is much closer to the threes. He likely does not get as many late-inning opportunity chances, but a middle relief role suits him right—Castro’s 3.34 SIERA and 33% strikeouts rate show he is trending in the right direction.

2020 Grades On 20-80 Scale (2021 Projection)

Sinker: 25 (45), This was an odd pitch for Castro as hitters batted .354, but the xBA was only .268. Should he learn how to locate it at the bottom of the zone, it can be dominant.

Slider: 75 (80), As good as any slider gets with a 48.3% whiff rate and .179 average against.

Changeup: 50 (55), This pitch has good potential, but the ability to locate it against righties can make it dominant.

Command: 45 (50), The command to be a late option is not there yet, but a full season with Jeremy Hefner should pay dividends.

Overall: 50 (55), Still just 26 years old and heading into his fifth full season in the big leagues. Expect the experience and talent to mesh together in 2021.

 

New York Mets: deGrom Exits Early, Gimenez Gets Big Hit in 5-4 Win

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New York Mets, Andres Gimenez

Wednesday night’s matchup between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies featured a matchup of two longtime teammates. Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler faced each other for the first time, but Wheeler lasted a lot longer than back-to-back Cy Young winner did. For the Mets, if they wanted any hope at a postseason birth, they needed a victory.

From the beginning, it set up like another disappointing Mets loss. They went down 4-0 early, deGrom only lasted two innings, and their offense struggled against Wheeler. The Mets overcame all of that to pick up a huge 5-4 victory to move within 1.5 games of the Phillies. 

From the second pitch of the game, it was evident deGrom was dealing with some issue. deGrom sent glares towards the dugout, trying to let them know something was not right. After giving up three runs in the second, he did not make it back out for the third. deGrom left the game with right hamstring spasms and was visibly frustrated in the dugout.

Wacha to the Rescue

Michael Wacha gave the Mets everything they could have asked for when called into long relief duty. He gave the Mets four innings and held the Phillies to one run and kept the Mets in the game. Wacha worked around some trouble, allowing five hits, but his performance cannot go overlooked.

The comeback started with a simple Robinson Cano ground out, making it a 4-1 game. J.D. Davis made it a 4-3 game with a two-run opposite-field off Wheeler. As the game move into the late innings, Davis left his mark on this game.

With Michael Conforto on first base, his double tied the game in the eighth inning. The ball hung in the air forever, and it just made it over the glove of the leaping Adam Haseley. Conforto also had no clue on the number of outs, which made the play at the plate closer than it should have been.

Clutch Bullpen

In the bottom half of the eighth, Miguel Castro stranded runners on first and second with back to back strikeouts to move the game to the ninth inning. The Phillies made a couple of mistakes in the ninth inning to benefit the Mets. With a runner on first, Hector Neris balked to move the runner to second base.

They decided to intentionally walk Jeff McNeil to set up Andres Gimenez in his biggest spot with the Mets. The rookie came through to line a single to center field, giving the Mets a 5-4 lead. Edwin Diaz worked around a base hit to strike out three batters and pick up his biggest save of the season.

The Mets send Seth Lugo to the mound for the rubber game of this three-game series. Aaron Nola opposes him at Citizens Bank Park for the 7:05 p.m. ET start.

 

New York Mets: Roster Moves Made to Add New Acquisitions

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New York Mets general manager, Brodie Van Wagenen, decided to make unnecessary trades on August 31 in an attempt to save his job when Steve Cohen purchases the team. He brought in a 36-year old back up catcher hitting .119, reliever Miguel Castro and someone he did not even pursue in free agency in Todd Frazier.

With the trio of Frazier, Castro, and Robinson Chirinos, the Mets had to send three players back to the alternate site to make room. They sent pitchers Ariel Jurado and Franklyn Kilome along with catcher Ali Sanchez. The moves left the Mets with a crowded infield and thinner bullpen.

Peterson to the Bullpen

With two long men leaving the bullpen, David Peterson is available to pitch in Wednesday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles. Peterson has been the second-best pitcher on the Mets staff, but the Mets opted for the reverse Seth Lugo treatment. The move does not seem to be permanent, but it leaves Robert Gsellman scheduled to start against the New York Yankees.

With Frazier joining the infield, the Mets have eight infielders for four spots, nine if Jeff McNeil is part of the group. Luis Guillorme is still hitting over .400 and Andres Gimenez homering the night before, but the Mets opted to play Frazier and bat him fourth for Wednesday’s game.

The Mets will need another reliever with no off days insight. In all fairness, Frazier should be the odd man out amongst Guillorme and Gimenez. Unfortunately, one of them will take the demotion in the near future. Despite Van Wagenen not giving up on 2020, it certainly is inevitable for them to throw in the towel.