The Twins have re-signed right-hander Diego Castillo to a minor league deal, per Theodore Tollefson of Twins Daily on X. The righty well rejoin the St. Paul bullpen and give the Twins some non-roster bullpen depth again.
Castillo, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Twins at the end of March. He reported to the Saints and performed very well, allowing five earned runs over 18 innings for an ERA of 2.50. He struck out 29.7% of batters faced, gave out walks 8.1% of the time and kept the ball on the ground at a 54.5% rate.
That got him the call to the big leagues but he wasn’t able to replicate that kind of performance. He did have a 2.57 ERA in his seven innings but was lucky to do so, as he danced around seven walks with just three strikeouts. Rather than wait for him to fall off that tightrope, the Twins designated him for assignment. He cleared waivers and elected free agency but has now circled back to the club on a new pact.
Though the results were iffy while Castillo was with Minnesota this year, there’s plenty of sense in bringing him back aboard. He tossed 259 2/3 big league innings from 2018 to 2022 with a 3.12 ERA, 28.1% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 50.7% ground ball rate. His results fell off in 2023, as he posted a 6.23 ERA, but his numbers with the Saints earlier this year were fairly close to his pre-2023 work.
The Twins have four relievers on the 60-day injured list right now: Brock Stewart, Justin Topa, Daniel Duarte and Zack Weiss. A couple of the guys currently on the roster, Kody Funderburk and Caleb Thielbar, are sporting ERAs north of 5.00. Having Castillo around gives them an experienced depth arm with lots of success on his track record, should the bullpen suffer another injury or some more poor results.