Jose Castillo

Castillo pitched 7.2 innings during the 2019 season around two major injuries. He missed most of the year with a left forearm flexor strain, only to come back from that and tear a tendon in his pitching hand. When he was healthy in 2018, Castillo was absolute death to lefties (.133/.220/.133) and held his own very well against righties (.189/.270/.333) over 38.1 innings of work. The San Diego bullpen has become more crowded over the past 12 months, but Castillo's ability to handle lefties and righties should serve him well as long as his pitching arm is in good shape. While he may be best utilized as a lefty specialist in 2020, especially with Drew Pomeranz now on the roster to provide a late-inning lefty, the new usage rules could give Castillo a jump in production and perhaps some value in deep NL-only leagues as a ratios play who can vulture the occasional win.

Castillo reached the majors for the first time as a 22-year-old in June and looked like he belonged, tossing 38.1 innings with a 3.29 ERA. His FIP came in even lower at 2.64 as Castillo had an excellent 34.7% strikeout to go along with an 8.0% walk rate. He absolutely dominated lefties, holding the 50 he faced to a .333 OPS, and he was no slouch against righties (.603 OPS he allowed in 100 plate appearances). Castillo should fill a high-leverage role in the Padres' bullpen from the start of the season this time around. His handedness could hurt his chance of getting save opportunities, though the Padres used lefty Brad Hand as closer recently. It's unlikely that he'll get the job to start the season, but he'll be a name worth knowing should Kirby Yates and Craig Stammen disappoint, break down or get traded.

A throw-in in the 2014 Wil Myers trade, Castillo reached the Double-A level late last season as a 21-year-old and showed enough in 47 total appearances to warrant Rule 5 protection. Walks have held him back some (4.2 BB/9 at High-A last year), but an uptick in strikeouts over the past two years has helped him limit the damage from the free passes. The lefty was excellent against same-handed hitters last season with Lake Elsinore, holding them to a .197 average and 1.03 WHIP (23:6 K:BB). He touches the mid-90s with his fastball and has been mostly healthy since missing nearly all of 2014 with an arm injury. There are a trio of capable southpaws on the Padres' roster behind Brad Hand (Buddy Baumann, Jose Torres, Kyle McGrath), but with Castillo now on the 40-man roster, he will likely be among the top candidates to come up when bullpen reinforcements are needed.