Cubs Recall Waiver Wire Addition, Intriguing Prospect RHP Kervin Castro

In all of the chaos that was the trade deadline yesterday, you might have missed the Cubs waiver wire addition of RHP Kervin Castro, the San Fransisco Giants’ No. 18 prospect heading into 2022. If you did miss it, that’s ok because you will likely see him pitch for the Cubs tonight or tomorrow in St. Louis.

Castro was claimed off waivers after he was DFA’d by the Giants on Monday. He has primarily a two-pitch repertoire: a mid-90s fastball and plus curve, his putaway pitch. Over his minor league career, Castro has a 3.52 ERA and 180 strikeouts over 166 innings pitched.

Here’s the Cubs’ official press release:

ST. LOUIS – The Chicago Cubs today recalled right-handed pitcher Kervin Castro (pronounced kerr-VEEN) from Triple-A Iowa.

Castro, 23, was claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants and optioned to Triple-A Iowa yesterday. He appeared in 12 major league games out of the bullpen with the Giants between the 2021-22 seasons, going 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA (5 ER/15.0 IP). The righthander allowed only one unearned run in 10 appearances (13.1 IP) in 2021. He has split the 2022 campaign between San Francisco and Triple-A Sacramento, pitching in two games for the Giants (5 ER/1.2 IP) and 29 games for the River Cats, going 0-4 with a 5.57 ERA (20 ER/32.1 IP) and 32 strikeouts. Castro was designated for assignment by San Francisco on Monday.

The six-foot Castro was signed by the Giants as an international free agent on July 2, 2015, converting from a catcher to pitcher prior to signing. He missed the majority of the 2017 and 2018 seasons due to Tommy John surgery, but enjoyed a breakout season in 2019, going 5-3 with a 2.66 ERA (20 ER/67.2 IP) in 14 starts for Single-A Salem-Keizer, garnering Northwest League Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star honors.

Castro, a Maracay, Venezuela native, entered the 2022 season ranked as the Giants’ No. 18 prospect per Baseball America and No. 19 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. All told, Castro has gone 14-9 with a 3.52 ERA (65 ER/166.0 IP) and one save in 87 career minor league games (14 starts), averaging 9.8 strikeouts per 9.0 IP and allowing only nine home runs in 699 batters faced.