Detroit Tigers: Anthony Castro stolen by the Toronto Blue Jays off waivers

The Detroit Tigers have lost right-handed pitcher Anthony Castro when the Toronto Blue Jays claimed him off waivers.

The Detroit Tigers have yet to make a notable signing to improve the organization this offseason, but they have just lost one of their young arms. Anthony Castro, a right-handed international signing from years ago, was claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays after being waived.

The organization felt they could waive him in order to clear roster space. Speculation would be that the Tigers will be looking to add a name in the upcoming Rule 5 draft that happens later this week. Waiving Castro drops the 40-man roster total to 39, meaning they could make a selection.

Castro is a 25-year old right-handed pitcher who has dealt with some adversity on his path to the big leagues. Signing as an international free agent at a young age, he has been in the minor league system for eight seasons.

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He has overcome an injury that left him on the sidelines for all of the 2015 season. But the hard-throwing righty has bounced back and fought his way through the ranks to the big leagues.

Castro brings a nice feel-good story, but that feel-good story is now in the hands of the Blue Jays writers.

Castro finally cracked the big-league roster in 2020, pitching in just one game.

He allowed a two-run home run after walking a batter to add two runs to his stat line. It is not a pretty looking stat line, and the Blue Jays will hope they can iron things out with Castro.

For Castro, the struggle is control and finding the zone consistently. He is a hard-throwing pitcher who can touch the upper 90s, but he needs to figure out the control aspect to be consistent in the big leagues.

He also features a mid-80s changeup with so-so movement. His go-to breaking ball is the slider/slurve he uses to induce the swing and miss. The movement on that pitch is much better, but again, the common trend being his struggle to locate pitches.

The Tigers seemingly feel they are deep enough with pitching prospects they can surrender up Castro as they did. Now, the Blue Jays will take control of Castro’s development and see if they can turn him into something.

Originally, he was slated to be a starter; that is highly unlikely. He seems like he would be better suited as a bridge arm for an organization. Or, to be bold, the Blue Jays could really hone in on his control; if that works out, he could emerge as a hard-throwing late-game arm for them.

For the Tigers, it is just a minimal move as they clear a roster spot. As was mentioned, the Detroit Tigers may have chosen to do this to clear room for the Rule 5 Draft. Time will tell.