Luis Castillo’s Dazzling Yankee Stadium Showing Creates More Buzz For Trade Possibilities

In a span of nearly five years, Luis Castillo’s two starts at Yankee Stadium featured some unique events.

Seven starts into his career on July 25, 2017, he got a triple play on Todd Frazier, making his debut for the Yankees. In his 136th start, Castillo was nearing the verge of one of those notifications about a pitcher working on a no-hitter — the kind that appear on the wire or on various sports apps.

He made it through 5 1/3 innings before Anthony Rizzo hit his 85th pitch for a clean double. Then Castillo had 29 more pitches, including 12 to Marwin Gonzalez in the seventh and three straight fastballs to DJ LeMahieu resulting in a strikeout.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in the league,” Aaron Judge said after his encounters with Castillo were hitting into a force play at second on a 98.4 mph fastball, a flyout on an 89.8 mph changeup and a walk in a plate appearance ending with a 98.1 mph fastball “He just didn’t leave too many mistakes for us to hit. When you have 100 (mph) and you’re painting the corners, that’s in for a tough day.”

It was after striking out LeMahieu when Castillo pumped his fist and met a line of high-fives in the dugout. He then gave an embrace and wide smile to manager David Bell, who beamed as he discussed Castillo’s performance.

“He asked me after the game if I was nervous while I was watching him,” Bell said. “Absolutely not. There is nobody that I’d rather have out there at any point and he knows that.”

While Castillo did not reach the territory of Cristian Javier, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly on June 23 in for Houston against the Yankees, the buzz most certainly increased as the days towards the Aug. 2 trade deadline slowly inch closer.

Suddenly the Yankees are among the teams who can use someone of his caliber, especially in the wake of Luis Severino landing on the injured list with a strained lat. Severino landed on the injured list after his velocity was down through his 43 pitches in two innings Wednesday when the Yankees described his injury as right shoulder tightness.

Severino’s injury occurred the night before Castillo’s latest audition for a possible trade to a contender. By all accounts his stuff seems to be getting better, especially in the world of conversations between opposing hitters who actually reach first base against him.

“He’s been so steady over the last bit and he seems to be getting hotter,” Joey Votto said two days after poking fun at his slump by tweeting a picture of f the Seinfeld clip where Jason Alexander’s character George Costanza gave Bernie Williams batting advice “This has been really fun to watch. He’s got great stamina. The stuff seems to be getting better because I keep getting impressed feedback from the opposing hitters at first base.”

On Thursday, there were six of those conversations where the topics besides informal talk might be about Castillo’s stuff and possibly his future destination.

And wherever his future destination is, the Reds possess this information in their phone or text conversations with other teams: 11 starts since May 20, a 2.37 ERA, 75 strikeouts in 68 1/3 innings and an opponents’ average of .198 (50-for-252).

There also is human side of this time of year and Castillo is hopeful to continue his association with the Reds, who acquired him from the Marlins for Dan Straily in Jan. 2017 after the Giants dealt him to Miami for Casey McGehee in Dec. 2014.

“The Reds gave me an opportunity to start my career,” Castillo said. “Throughout the whole time with this organization, everybody has treated me well and I hope we can continue on and do the same for a long time.”

So do the others inside a clubhouse that is tied with the Cubs for the second-worst record in the National League but also has won eight of 12 and with six wins decided in the ninth inning or later.

“I hope he stays a Red forever, but who knows what the future holds,” shortstop Kyle Farmer said. “But watching him pitch — man, that sinker is awesome.”

And the future may depend on the price contenders like the Yankees are willing to send back for someone with a year and a half of team control and a player certainly to get a raise in his third arbitration year from the $7.3 million he is being paid this season.

Of course, the Reds could merely offer up a long-term investment maybe somewhere between the five-year,$56 million extension Sandy Alcantara agreed to with Miami, or the seven-year, $131 million extension for Jose Berrios with Toronto.

Based on recent history, it seems the Reds will part with Castillo and with a few more starts like the dazzling performance in the Bronx, the value may continually increase even in an era when general managers are reluctant at parting with most top prospects.