Miguel Castro: Former Mets Relief Pitcher to NL Champion Diamondback (2020 - 2021)

Miguel Castro was born December 24th, Christmas Eve 1994 at La Romana, Dominican Republic. His father was a pro boxer. 

The tall six-foot seven right hander, signed as an international free agent in 2012 with the Toronto Blue Jays. 

With the money he got from signing his contract, Miguel paid for his
father to have a prostate operation & for his mother to have a tumor removed. 

In 2015 he was invited to Blue Jays Spring Training as a long shot to make the team. Castro pitched so well he earned a spot in the Jays bullpen. At age twenty, he became the youngest Blue Jay to ever make the team's pitching staff. 

MLB Debut: On April 6th, he closed out a win against the A.L. New York team. He had a rough start going 0-3 with a 6.11 ERA, allowing 12 runs & four HRs in 17.2 innings pitched.

On July 28th he was traded along with Jose Reyes, Jeff Hoffman & Jesus Tinoco to the Colorado Rockies for Troy Tulowitzki & LaTroy Hawkins. 

Castro spent the 2016 season in Colorado pitching 19 games posting a 6.14 ERA. He was designated for assignment & then traded to the Baltimore Orioles for a player to be named later.

Castro spent parts of four season in Baltimore (2017-2020) appearing in 183 games in that time. In 2017 he earned his first career win, coming in Cleveland on June 20th. He went to 3-1 before taking two losses to finish 3-3 with a 3.53 ERA. On September 30th he was given a chance to start but would take a loss at Tampa allowing three runs in 3.1 innings.

In 2018 he posted a 2-7 record with a 3.96 ERA; he made 63 appearances & committed three balks to lead all AL pitchers in that department. In 2019 he made over 60 appearances once again, finishing off 28 games going 1-3 with a 4.66 ERA.

Mets Career: On August 31st, 2020, Castro was traded to the New York Mets for minor leaguer, Kevin Smith.

On September 7th, he made his Mets debut entering a tied game with the Phillies, in the 10th inning & gave up the game winning HR to Jean Segura. 

On September 7th, he collected his first Mets win, as Andres Gimenez drove in the Mets winning run in the top of the 9th to beat the same Phillies. He took one more loss in his last outing, to end the season at 2-2 with a 4.01 ERA in 26 games between the Mets & O's.

2021: Castro saw steady work early on, getting credit for a hold in his first appearance. On April 13th, he gave up a run to the Phillies blowing a save but the Mets bailed him out on Jonathan Villar's walk off hit. 

On May 2nd he served up a grand slam to Didi Gregorius but a six run 8th inning, led by Pete Alonso's three run double gave the Mets the win.

On May 14th, he took a loss at Tampa, as he allowed two base runners in the 9th inning, then Aaron Loup surrendered the game winning hit to Brett Phillips.

On May 21st, Castro entered a game in Miami with a two-run lead, but a Garrett Cooper two run HR tied it up, although the Mets came back to win it in extra innings. 

On May 25th in Colorado, he earned his first win pitching two scoreless against the Rockies in a 3-1 win. On June 2nd, he tossed two more scoreless in Arizona for his second win of the season. That night he threw a wicked slider that had Arizona's Ketel Mate make such a wicked swing, he nearly fell on his face.

He took a loss in each of the next two months, but earned his third win on August 4th in South Florida. The Mets had been in first place util mid-August but they went 17-29 the rest of the way to finish third.

On the season Castro was 3-4 nine holds, finishing off seven games posting a 3.45 ERA. He struck out 77 batters in 70.1 innings while walking 43 & hitting six others. 

2022: He signed a deal to avoid arbitration & started out in Spring Training with the Mets, but on April 3rd, was traded to the AL New York team for Joley Rodriguez.

Post Mets Career: Castro went 5-0 with a 4.03 ERA, striking out 31 batters in 29 innings making 34 appearances. But on August 1st he suffered a shoulder strain & missed three months of the season. He returned in October for two games.

2022 Post Season- ALCS: Castro made two appearances in the loss to the Houston Astros.

He was granted free agency & signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

2023 NL Championship Season: Castro would lead the NL in appearances with 75, going 6-6 with 13 holds posting a 4.31 ERA. In May he was 3-0 allowing runs in just one game while making 13 appearances. 

In 12.2 innings pitched he gave up three runs for a 2.13 ERA in May. On the season he struck out 60 walked 25 in 64.2 innings.

2023 Post Season- NLWC: In Game #1 of the wild card series win over the Brewers, Castro
pitched 0.2 innings earning a hold in the 6-3 win.

2023 NLDS:  In Game #1 of the NLDS he gave up two runs to the Dodgers, but Arizona won the game 11-2. They shocked everyone sweeping the series over the heavily favored Dodgers.

2023 NLCS: Arizona continued to surprise everyone, as the beat the Phillies in seven games to advance to the World Series. 

Castro made three appearances, pitching 3.1 innings allowing a run on two hits with a walk & three K's. In Game #4 he was credited with a hold.

2023 World Series: The d-Backs streak ended as the lost the World Series to the Texas Rangers in five games. In Game #1 Castro served up the walk off HR to Adolis Garcia in the 11th inning, taking the loss.

In Game #4 he came in to replace Joe Mantiply in the 2nd inning, but he was charged with three runs, including a triple to Marcus Sieman, a walk & a wild pitch. His two base runners scored on Corey Seagar's three run HR off Kyle Nelson.

Career Stats: In his nine-year career he is 22-28 with 14 saves & a 4.15 ERA. He has 402 K's & 230 walks in 447 innings in 408 appearances.

Family: Miguel is married to Dominican model Yilenny Estefani Mercedes.