What’s Next for Toronto Blue Jays Miguel Castro

Coming out of Spring Training, this year’s version of the Toronto Blue Jays looked to mix experience with youth. By now every Blue Jays fan knows the background stories of Miguel Castro, Roberto Osuna. Both players bet the odds and made the team out of Spring Training and where thrown head first into the major league experience; unfortunately, Castro was not able to sustain the hype.

Castro won a job in the Spring by attacking the spring zone and dominating with his  97 mhp fastball and mixing in an above average change and slider. Castro was able to take the closers job from Brett Cecil in the first week of the season, but last week Cecil took it back. It wasn’t like Castro was horrible, but he started to show his age and inexperience in the last two weeks.

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Castro allowed 2 home runs in his last 6 IP, which doesn’t always result in a demotion, but when Buffalo and New Hampshire have a few arms with major league experience that pitching well, it just makes sense to got with the hot hand….or arms in this case.

The real question isn’t whether demoting Miguel Castro was the right or wrong answer. The real question is what is going to happen to Miguel Castro now that he’s been demoted.

The Buffalo Bisons rotation is currently made up of Randy Wolf (3-0, 1.24 ERA), Andrew Albers (1-3, 3.09 ERA), Scott Copeland (2-1, 1.44 ERA), Todd Redmond (0-0, 7.71 ERA), and Daniel Norris.

Let’s get something start right here, right now. Miguel Castro is a starter and if he is pitching in the minor leagues, he should be stretched out. I would rather Castro go down to New Hampshire for a few weeks to build up his confidence, heck I’d even accept Castro heading to Dunedin to work with Vince Horseman. As reliever Castro throw primarily fastballs and his secondary stuff suffered. As a starter he will be able to have side sessions and work on developing all his pitches.

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With an off day on Monday, Manager Gary Allenson has a chance to reset his rotation. He send Andrew Albers to the mound on Tuesday, followed by recently demoted Daniel Norris (3-1, 3.18 ERA in 2014 with the Herd) on Wednesday, and Todd Redmond is pencilled in to make his second start on Thursday. and then it’s time for Randy Wolf to take the mound for his regular turn.

It possible that either Copeland or Castro will bump Redmond from his Thursday start with the other pitcher being inserted into the rotation on Saturday against Norfolk. My hope is that Castro stays in the minors for the rest of 2015, with a September call-up. Don’t send him down to be utilized as a starter and then call him back up to Toronto to be utilized in the bullpen.

There are plenty of other guys in the system that management can use in the bullpen before calling on Castro. This is where I provide a list for your viewing pleasure.

Buffalo

Bo Shultz (*)- 1-1, 2.61 ERA and 6 saves

Ryan Tepera (*)- 1-1, 0.68 ERA and 0.83 WHIP

Gregory Infante (*)- 0-0, 2.16 ERA and 0.84 WHIP

Preston Guilmet (*)- 0-0, 1.46 ERA with 3BB and 10K in 12.1IP

Rob Rasmussen (*)- 1-0, 0.90 ERA and 0.80 WHIP

(*)- on the 40-man roster

With all these guys on the 40-man roster, there are plenty of guys to choose from. LHP Luis Perez, recently call-up, hasn’t looked great in his first week with Buffalo, but he is another guy that could work his way into the conversation.

When you start rookies there will always be bumps in the road, they don’t offer the reliability the veterans do. They need to struggle so they can adjust, we all know baseball is a game of adjustments. If the reports on Miguel Castro’s work ethic are accurate than we can expect this young man to accept this demotion/assignment and we’ll be talking about how he could be the Blue Jays next Ace of the staff for many years to come, but for now let’s just hope he lights up the International League.

That’s baseball, and it’s my game. Y’ know, you take your worries to the game, and you leave ’em there. You yell like crazy for your guys. It’s good for your lungs, gives you a lift, and nobody calls the cops. Pretty girls, lots of ’em. ~Humphrey Bogart