Britton praises Welington Castillo

[wildcard]

Good to Hear:

“Absolutely,” Britton said. “I thought he did a great job. About as good as anyone is going to be the first time catching someone (with a sinker) like that. The swing and miss to (Darwin) Barney was kind of a tough pitch to hang onto and he hung on to it. He blocked a couple of balls for me in the dirt, which was big. Happy with him. He’s going to be good for the team. Not only defensively but offensively, too.”

Britton said Castillo made a lot of progress in a short period of time working with Orioles pitchers this spring. And Castillo is not hesitant to make a suggestion to a pitcher. Even if that pitcher is Britton and the suggestion is about his sinker, one of the best single pitches for any hurler in the game.

“Absolutely. He wants to learn every guy,” Britton said. “Tonight he came out during the game and one time he thought maybe I needed to start my sinker a little higher. That is the kind of feedback that you want. He could see where it was starting when I was missing down and said to aim a little higher. That is what you are looking for in a new catcher and he is getting comfortable with us already.”

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2017/04/in-first-day-as-new-os-catcher-welington-castillo-played-key-role.html

 

[PaulFolk]

FYI to all, this was posted a few minutes ago and I accidentally deleted it, so if anyone had commented on it...please feel free to do so again.

[Frobby]

Brilliant suggestion by Castillo there: "your sinker is coming in too low, so try starting it off a little higher."    Genius!

[Can_of_corn]

As I sated in the other thread it isn't at all surprising to have a pitcher, when prompted, to say good things about his catcher.

[wildcard]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Brilliant suggestion by Castillo there: "your sinker is coming in too low, so try starting it off a little higher."    Genius!

It beats "Just keep throwing it."

[Going Underground]

Yup . Just like this piece.

Three springs ago, Matt Wieters arrived at Baltimore Orioles camp with a new reliever to break in. Zach Britton had come out of the bullpen just twice in 109 minor league appearances, just two more times in 48 major league outings. He was a starter by trade, and he had struggled. With the rotation full up, the Orioles needed to hold on to his talent, so they moved him to the bullpen. By that May, he was the closer.

“At first, until you get some saves under your belt, you don’t know,” said Wieters, who then served as the Orioles’ catcher and now will play the same position for the Washington Nationals. “Once you get some of those experiences built up, you have things to look back on. But at first, you don’t know.”

This is pertinent in Washington because the Nationals’ season opens Monday. When it does, Wieters will be behind the plate, and if the club carries, say, a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth, the bullpen gate will swing open and out will walk Blake Treinen, a closer for the first time in his life.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/matt-wieters-will-help-blake-treinen-become-a-closer-hes-done-it-before/2017/03/31/873e9e3c-1651-11e7-833c-503e1f6394c9_story.html?utm_term=.10b9bfe6f50e

 

[Aristotelian]

19 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Brilliant suggestion by Castillo there: "your sinker is coming in too low, so try starting it off a little higher."    Genius!

Of course then he left one up to Bautista and was lucky it didn't get hit out of the park. After that one he probably came out and said "Just try to keep it down"

[bobmc]

17 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

As I sated in the other thread it isn't at all surprising to have a pitcher, when prompted, to say good things about his catcher.

It is a SSS but I don't recall any pitchers saying thusly about MW - i. e., making a constructive criticism like this.  They did say "Wiety and I were on the same page", etc. - the kind of pos rep you are suggesting.  However, 70+ year old brains are mostly mush so whatever...

[Frobby]

13 minutes ago, dan-O said:

This is fluff or whatever, but I do really like Castillo. I don't really see any reason to believe that he won't be pretty clearly an upgrade.

If he's clearly an upgrade, why do you think the D-Backs non-tendered him?   It's not like he was making a fortune.    

[Tony-OH]

I will say this, I thought Castillo called a pretty good game back there. He also nursed Gausman through a tough lineup on a day when he didn't really have command of his offspeed pitches. He moved the fastball in and out and up and down and did well with what his pitcher had.

[Frobby]

13 minutes ago, dan-O said:

Dunno! I think when you factor in Wieters' decline, the confines of Camden Yards, and Castillo's defensive trend upward, it's pretty clear to me. We'll see, I guess, but he feels like a good fit here. Not really sure what the D-Backs were thinking to be honest, nor do I care. 

Just to be clear, I'm reasonably optimistic about Castillo.    But to me it remains to be seen if he's a "clear upgrade."   I think it's more likely that he's about the same, but for less money.  

[Rene88]

7 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I will say this, I thought Castillo called a pretty good game back there. He also nursed Gausman through a tough lineup on a day when he didn't really have command of his offspeed pitches. He moved the fastball in and out and up and down and did well with what his pitcher had.

There was lots of talk of pitch framing by MW on the Nats telecast-they are very aware. He looked good yesterday with Strasburg yesterday honestly.

I am glad we have Castillo honestly.

[wildcard]

26 minutes ago, Frobby said:

If he's clearly an upgrade, why do you think the D-Backs non-tendered him?   It's not like he was making a fortune.    

The D'back are structured kind of weird.   93M payroll.  34m to Grienke.  6m for Castillo would have made him their 5th highest paid player.   They replaced for a guy making 2m and backup making 1.5m.

[sportsfan8703]

I think it helped Castillo catching for the Dominican team and basically being in "playoff" mode.  Even though he's been an "NL" guy I still though he navigated the lineup pretty good with Gausman.  

I actually didn't mind him getting doubled up off that Rickard fly ball.  Bautista made a play that nobody thought he could make.  Given the situation it was well worth the gamble to take off and try to score there and win the game.  I don't mind the aggressiveness.  

[Frobby]

19 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I think it helped Castillo catching for the Dominican team and basically being in "playoff" mode.  Even though he's been an "NL" guy I still though he navigated the lineup pretty good with Gausman.  

I actually didn't mind him getting doubled up off that Rickard fly ball.  Bautista made a play that nobody thought he could make.  Given the situation it was well worth the gamble to take off and try to score there and win the game.  I don't mind the aggressiveness.  

I agree with this, in the circumstances of the game.