Detroit Tigers: Top 20 prospects going into the 2020 season

Anthony Castro, RHP, Double-A in 2019

Back in 2011, the Detroit Tigers signed Anthony Castro as an international free agent who flew under the radar after he needed Tommy John Surgery. He was not a highly sought after name being that he signed with the Tigers at the age of sixteen years old. Castro is a 6-foot-2, 190-pound right-handed arm that the Tigers are hoping pans out after all these years of investing in him. Now, twenty-four years old, he has spent 2019 in Double-A.

In 2019, Castro pitched in twenty-seven games, making eighteen starts, totaling 102.1 innings pitched. He had a 5-3 record throughout his eighteen starts, with a 4.40 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. He also managed 116 punch outs, most likely from his slurve. He walked sixty-five hitters this season, hitting six more on top of that.

He was on the Double-A Lake Erie Seawolves pitching staff that featured some of the organization’s best pitching talent. Castro features a three-pitch mix, starting a fastball that sits in the mid-90s (93-95 mph) with his ability to be able to dial it up to close to 98 if he wants to. He has a changeup that comes in around  85-86 with some arm-side tail, which allows for some swings and misses against right-handed hitters.

Now, his best-offspeed pitch is his slurve, which has more of a slider, horizontal movement, fading into the zone arm-side, or darting out of the zone on the glove side. Castro’s slider sits in the mid-80s (80-82mph) with great movement that induces plenty of swings and misses. In terms of delivery, he has a fluent delivery, featuring some pretty clean mechanics besides the way he finishes.

He comes over the top with a high three-quarters arm slot. One of Castro’s issues is his inability to command his pitches. He has a bad habit of missing arm side a lot, probably due to his arm slot and the way he comes off the mound in his delivery. Castro does, however, come off the hill in an athletic position allowing him to field his position very well on comebackers.

MLB Expectation: Providing all goes well, Castro will play with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens this season and possibly get a spot start here and there with the Detroit Tigers. Castro is slated to be a starting pitcher, but his lack of command may find him better suited for the bullpen as a reliever. It really will boil down to his ability to mature his command.