Castillo eyes bounceback campaign in 2019

February 27th, 2019

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Much of the optimism about the Reds during the offseason and Spring Training has been centered on the three new starting pitchers amongst the improved rotation. Don’t forget about returning starter Luis Castillo, however. Reds management certainly hasn’t.

“He’s a huge part of our rotation,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He has a really great future. We’ve already seen success. Great kid. We definitely think, as much success as he’s had at an early age, there’s even more there. He’s driven to continue to get better.”

Castillo made his spring debut out of the bullpen Wednesday, tossing one inning against the White Sox. He allowed one earned run and two hits with one strikeout.

The youngest member of the rotation at 26, Castillo has the most dynamic repertoire. The right-hander debuted following a promotion from the Double-A level in the middle of the 2017 season and had a 3.12 ERA in 15 starts.

Especially in the first half of 2018, Castillo had trouble finding a consistent groove and went 10-12 with a 4.30 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in 31 starts and 169 2/3 innings. He also gave up a team-high 28 home runs, which tied for third-most in the National League.

Besides Bell, Castillo has other sets of new eyes on him in pitching coach Derek Johnson and assistant pitching coach Caleb Cotham. Johnson, who was quite familiar with Castillo from other dugouts during his time with the Brewers, isn’t opening the hood and doing a whole lot of tinkering.

"The bottom line is just kind of letting him lead the way in what he is really good at doing,” Johnson said. “Obviously, the stuff isn’t good, it’s premium. It’s being able to utilize it.”

There were times last season, especially early, that Castillo’s four-seam velocity seemed to dip. Former Reds interim pitching coach Danny Darwin worked with Castillo to find a different arm angle to help find some more power and movement.

“At the start of the season, I don’t know what happened last year that my velocity was a little down,” Castillo said via translator Julio Morillo. “In the second half, I was throwing hard and I was able to maintain my velocity to the end of the season.”

According to Statcast, over the course of the entire season, Castillo’s four-seam average dropped from 97.4 to 95.8 mph.

“My start last year wasn’t very good. Looking at this year, I want to start really good,” Castillo said. “I changed my mentality last year and said ‘OK, I have to finish strong,’ and that’s what I did.”

Castillo posted a 2.44 ERA in 11 second-half starts, including a 1.09 ERA over his final five starts.

There was some contrast in the righty-lefty splits for Castillo last season after they were closer to even in ’17. Right-handed hitters had a .587 OPS but left-handed hitters had an .882 OPS in '18.

“I think the biggest thing for him is understanding what he has to do against lefties to be successful and understanding what he has to do against righties to be successful,” Johnson said. “Then it’s sort of putting that in a package that makes sense for what he does.”

That could potentially include sharpening Castillo’s breaking ball. His changeup is his best pitch, but a slider and curveball are also being worked on this spring.

With offseason acquisitions Sonny Gray, Tanner Roark and Alex Wood joining him and Anthony DeSclafani in the starting five, Castillo felt like the others would push him to be better.

“I think as a pitcher, you have to help each other out,” Castillo said. “I think they’re really good [people], first of all. And they’re really good pitchers. I saw them throwing in the bullpen and they looked really good. I’m very excited to work with them.”

Did you like this story?

Senior Reporter Mark Sheldon has covered the Reds for MLB.com since 2006, and previously covered the Twins from 2001-05.