The Detroit Tigers scouted the Dominican Winter League, featuring MLB players such as Robinson Cano, Marcell Ozuna and Jose Siri, in the Dominican Republic this offseason in search of underrated talent with upside.
One player emerged as the top priority to sign: 26-year-old right-handed reliever Luis Castillo (unrelated to Cincinnati Reds starter Luis Castillo, a 29-year-old on the trade block).
The Tigers reacted to their scouting department’s evaluation by signing Castillo on Thursday to a minor-league contract. The organization also inked 24-year-old infielder Luis Carpio, a former mid-tier prospect with the New York Mets.
Castillo and Carpio are scheduled to report in mid-February to the Tigers’ minor-league minicamp in Lakeland, Florida. MLB spring training, however, cannot begin until the lockout ends.
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Castillo pitched for Aguilas Cibaenas in the Dominican Winter League, posting a 1.39 ERA with seven walks and 24 strikeouts over 32⅓ innings in 26 relief appearances during the regular season and postseason combined.
He then pitched for the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean Series, firing two scoreless innings with zero walks and one strikeout in three outings. The Dominican Republic lost to Colombia on Thursday in the championship game.
As for Castillo’s stateside career, the 6-foot-3, 212-pound righty signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks as an international prospect in 2012. He has spent nine seasons in the minor leagues, posting a 3.68 ERA in 188 games (32 starts).
The Diamondbacks promoted Castillo to Triple-A Reno for the first time in 2021, thanks to his 2.35 ERA, eight walks and 21 strikeouts in 15⅓ innings for Double-A Amarillo to begin the season. But he stumbled in Triple-A with a 6.63 ERA, 11 walks and 14 strikeouts in 19 innings.
In November, Castillo became a minor-league free agent.
The Tigers like Castillo’s lower-than-usual arm slot and value his potential to make hitters swing and miss with his mix of fastballs, sliders and changeups. He has a 20.2% strikeout rate in the minors.
If Castillo meets expectations in minicamp, he should start the 2022 season in Triple-A Toledo.
Castillo, who turns 27 in March, pitched for the Dominican Republic in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. The Dominican Republic win bronze, behind Japan (gold) and the United States (silver).
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The Tigers signed Carpio to help fill their middle-infield void in Double-A Erie.
He played 87 games last season for the New York Mets’ Double-A affiliate in Binghamton, New York, hitting .249 with 20 doubles, seven home runs, 32 RBIs, 33 walks and 89 strikeouts for the colorfully named Rumble Ponies. The Tigers, believing the right-hander has a little more to show offensively, have plans in place to see if he can make improvements.
Back in 2013, the Mets signed Carpio as an international prospect from Venezuela. Like Castillo, he elected free agency in November.
Carpio, at 5-11, 190 pounds, has a .246 batting average with 27 homers, 224 walks and 417 strikeouts in 563 games across seven seasons in the minors. His best season was in 2019, hitting .282 in High-A (31 games) and Double-A (82 games) combined.
Alex Faedo predicts return
Tigers pitching prospect Alex Faedo, working his way back from Tommy John surgery, expects to be ready for games in mid-March.
In December 2020, the right-hander underwent the procedure to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow. He tossed his first bullpen Jan. 11 and has completed seven bullpens so far, with his eighth scheduled for Friday.
Once Faedo completes 18 bullpens, he is allowed to face live hitters.
“When I started throwing on the side, like warming up, I started getting amped up and got a whole bunch of adrenaline going,” Faedo said last month. “I was like, OK, your first ‘pen is supposed to be easy, like 70-75%. I felt like I was already in a game or something.”
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Faedo is the Tigers’ No. 15 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, and was selected No. 18 overall in 2017 out of Florida. He joined the 40-man roster in November 2020, roughly one month before his surgery.
He logged a 3.90 ERA in the 2019 season for Double-A Erie, recording 25 walks and 134 strikeouts in 115⅓ innings. The minors were nixed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Faedo went to the alternate training site in Toledo but was shut down in late August with a forearm strain.
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Finally nearing a full recovery, Faedo lives in Lakeland but can’t enter the Tigers’ facility due to the MLB lockout, which began Dec. 2. Before the lockout, the Tigers paired him with Jeremy Maddox, the owner of Optimal Performance and Physical Therapies in Tampa.
Fellow Tigers pitchers Casey Mize and Matt Manning are training in the Tampa area, too, because the lockout bars them from the complex in Lakeland. The three pitchers — teammates in Double-A in 2019 — cross paths daily.
“We all know our bodies pretty well and how to make our own adjustments,” Faedo said. “It’s not ideal, but we’re definitely going to be able to get through it and get better. It’s like when you’re on the mound in the game. You have coaches there, but you got to make fixes on the mound. This might be really good for us to learn our bodies and make adjustments on our own.”
Still, Faedo is pumped for the lockout to end.
Whenever there’s labor peace, Faedo will transition back to the Lakeland facility “as quick as I can” to prepare for spring training games in mid-March and a full season that could lead to his MLB debut in 2022.
“I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Faedo said. “I have that fire brewing all the time now. I’m almost game ready. I’m almost ready to go. I’m just excited to be with the guys and playing again.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.