José Gregorio Castillo Tovar (born January 10, 1996) is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Castillo signed with the Tampa Bay Rays as a non-drafted free agent on July 7, 2012. He spent under two seasons playing for Tampa Bay's minor league affiliates.[citation needed]
The Rays traded Castillo, Wil Myers, Ryan Hanigan and Gerardo Reyes to the San Diego Padres in exchange for René Rivera, Burch Smith and Jake Bauers on December 19, 2014.[1]
Castillo was selected as a member of the Venezuela national baseball team at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
After the 2017 season, the Padres added Castillo to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.[2] Castillo was called up and made his major league debut on June 2, 2018, and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with 3 strikeouts that night, including strikeouts of Cincinnati Reds all-star sluggers Joey Votto and Eugenio Suarez. [3] He ended the season 3-3 with an ERA of 3.29 in 37 games. In 38+1⁄3 innings, he struck out 52 batters.
Castillo began the 2019 season on the 60-day injured list due to a left flexor strain. He only pitched in 2/3 of an inning for the Padres in 2019, allowing no runs and striking out two, before suffering an injury to his left middle finger and ending the season on the 60-day injured list. Due to the 2020 Major League Baseball season being shortened to 60 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Castillo ended up missing the entire season due to a left lat strain and a torn ligament in his hand.[4] On March 4, 2021, it was announced that Castillo would require Tommy John surgery after exiting a simulated game on March 2 because of forearm tightness.[5] On March 6, Castillo was placed on the 60-day injured list.[6]
On November 30, 2021, Castillo was non-tendered by the Padres, making him a free agent.[7] On January 14, 2022, Castillo re-signed with the Padres.[8] He had his contract selected on August 23, 2022.
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