Orioles Have Signed Welington Castillo

Orioles Signing

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According to Jon Heyman, the Orioles have reached a deal with free agent catcher Welington Castillo.

 

Ken Rosenthal and Roch Kubatko have confirmed the report in a follow-upto Heyman’s initial tweet. Rosenthal reports that the deal is for one year with a $6 million guarantee with a $7 million player option for a second year. The agreement is pending a team physical.

In 2016, Castillo appeared in 113 games for the Diamondbacks (103 starts behind the plate) and batted .264/.322/.423 with 14 home runs, 24 doubles, 68 RBI, 33 walks, and 121 strikeouts over 457 plate appearances. Castillo wears out lefties in particular, batting .278/.346/.522 in 2016 and has a career line of .285/.353/.484 over 490 plate appearances. That should be a welcome addition to an Oriole lineup that struggled versus southpaws in 2016.

Behind the plate, he finished second in the NL and third in the majors with a 37.5% caught stealing rate. Although, he also finished second in the majors with ten passed balls and is considered an average pitch framer (For what it’s worth, he rated a better framer then Matt Wieters in 2016 according to StatCorner). Still, for a one year deal at a presumably cheaper cost than Matt Wieters, this looks like a smart move by Dan Duquette while the club lets top prospect Chance Sisco continue his development in the minors another year.

SOURCEChris Slade
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Tony has owned and operated Orioles Hangout since 1996 and is well known for his knowledge of the Baltimore Orioles organization from top to bottom. He's a frequent guest on Baltimore-area sports radio stations and can be heard regularly on the 105.7 FM The Fan. His knowledge and contacts within the Orioles minor league system and the major league baseball scouting industry is unparalleled in the Baltimore media and is known as an expert on the Orioles prospects.