A lot of fantasy baseball fans are skeptical about taking untested pitchers because they fear the young pitchers will get exposed in the majors and cost them valuable fantasy points they would have had if they picked a veteran player instead. Unfortunately for those guys, that isn’t always the case. If you want to bet on baseball, take a look at our latest 2018 MLB odds for all the games.
Don’t get me wrong, people that are wary of picking up untested rookies in their fantasy league have reason to do so, especially after players like Lucas Giolito and Tyler Glasnow, who came into the league with a lot of hype but fizzled under the spotlight.
For every Giolito and Glasnow, there are also players like Stephen Strasburg, who had even more hype than both guys, who come in right away and perform well. In other cases, players like Luis Severino, who didn’t have the hype the others have, but stepped up and became a major contributor for the New York Yankees.
This year, rookie Luis Castillo is the player people didn’t quickly pick up and are now regretting. The rookie made his debut against the Washington Nationals and put a scare in the NL East leaders, who had Strasburg pitching in the game. The Nationals were able to pull off the victory, but Castillo showed he was ready for primetime.
In five starts, Castillo has a 1-2 record, but don’t let that fool you. The rookie also has a 3.41 ERA and is quickly establishing himself as one of the hardest throwers in the game. In his starts, Castillo has thrown at least seven strikeouts, and his average fastball speed is 97.9 mph, which is second only to New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
The interesting thing about Castillo is that scouts didn’t think he could become a good player in the majors.
Despite having a 2.26 ERA in the minors, scouts thought Castillo didn’t have much to offer other than his fastball. They also thought his secondary pitches weren’t going to be effective in the majors.
From his first start, Castillo proved the scouts wrong because he not only froze batters with his fastball, he also had them confused with his secondary pitches, showing he has all the tools to be an effective starter in the majors.
While some might argue that it was his first start and teams didn’t have enough tape on him to figure out his tendencies. You also have to consider the fact that he has started five games now and up to this point, he hasn’t allowed more than four earned runs in a game.
Major league veterans that have made the All-Star team and some that have won the Cy Young award, like Jake Arrieta, have given up four or more runs on several occasions this season. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Castillo is going to win the Cy Young Award, I’m just saying he has been very impressive for a rookie and hasn’t been intimidated by playing on the biggest stage.
The bottom line here is if Castillo is still available in your fantasy league, you might want to scoop him up before someone else does.
Featured Image Credit: Derek Jensen / C.C 2.0
