Twins Add Former Big League Closer To Bullpen

He's been a part-time closer for two different teams in the big leagues, but has had trouble making it back to The Show after a difficult 2023 season. Now, after having signed a minor league deal with the Minnesota Twins, reliever Diego Castillo is getting the call back to the bigs.

Diego Castillo is indeed on his way to the #MNTwins

Castillo has 250+ games of big league experience. Slider still remains a wipeout pitch for him. Fastball sitting between 94-96. Great redemption story and a chance to take a spot at n the bullpen for good. https://t.co/3AvIDOIh3w
— Declan Goff (@DexsTweets) May 27, 2024

The hefty bullpen specialist still uses a wipeout slider as his out pitch while getting up to the mid-90s with his fastball.

Castillo has a career 3.22 ERA across 268 innings, and put together a nice run between his time with the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners between 2018 and 2022 that included a 3.12 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, well over 10 K/9, and 35 saves.

This year, at Triple-A for the Twins, he's seemed to regain his stuff after a tough 2023 that saw him outrighted by the Mariners after just eight rough innings. With the St. Paul Saints this season, he's recorded a 2.50 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP and a sizzling 22:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 18 innings.

If he can continue to perform like that, he could be another key piece to use in high-leverage situations, and would be under team control for another season if the Twins so desired, via arbitration.