Welington Castillo

Welington Andres Castillo (born April 24, 1987), nicknamed "Beef" after the dish,^[1] is a Dominican professional baseball catcher who is currently a free agent. He has also played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Baseball career

Castillo was signed as an amateur free agent by the Chicago Cubs in 2004.

Minors

Castillo began his professional career in 2006, playing for the AZL Cubs (seven games) and Boise Hawks (three games), hitting .188. In 2007, he hit .271 with 11 home runs and 44 runs batted in (RBIs) for the Peoria Chiefs. He split 2008 between the Daytona Cubs (33 games), Tennessee Smokies (57 games) and Iowa Cubs (one game), hitting .287 with four home runs in 91 games. With the Smokies again in 2009, Castillo's average dropped to .232, however he hit 11 home runs with 32 RBIs.

He began 2010 with the Iowa Cubs and hit .255 with 13 home runs and 59 RBI with them. Castillo spent most of 2011 with Iowa, hitting .286 with 15 home runs in 61 games, but he also played two games with the AZL Cubs and 12 games with Daytona, hitting a combined .287 with 16 home runs. In the minors, he hit .268 with eight home runs and 28 RBI in 49 games split between Iowa and the Tennessee Smokies.

Majors

Chicago Cubs

Castillo making a play in 2014

Castillo was called up to Chicago on August 10, 2010 and spent seven games in the major leagues, hitting .300 with a home run, four doubles and five RBI. Castillo also played in four games with Chicago, from May 12–25 while Geovany Soto was on the disabled list (DL). In those games, Castillo hit .154 in 13 at-bats.

On April 28, 2012, Castillo was recalled from Iowa after back-up catcher Steve Clevenger was placed on the DL. He was hitting .320 with two home runs and eight RBIs in 16 games at Iowa. He played 52 games at the major league level, hitting .265 with five home runs and 22 RBI.

Castillo played in 113 games in 2013, hitting .274/.349/.397 with 8 home runs and 32 RBI's.

Castillo was the starting catcher for the Cubs, playing in 110 games and hitting .237/.296/.389 with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs.

ESPN in December reported speculation that Castillo could be traded prior to the 2015 season, as the Cubs were expected to start newly acquired catcher Miguel Montero.^[2]

Seattle Mariners

On May 19, 2015, Castillo was traded to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for pitcher Yoervis Medina.^[3]

Arizona Diamondbacks

On June 3, 2015, the Mariners traded Castillo, Dominic Leone, Gabby Guerrero, and Jack Reinheimer to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Mark Trumbo and Vidal Nuño.^[4]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)