Kervin Alexander Castro (born February 7, 1999) is a Venezuelan

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

organization. He signed with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

as an international

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2015, and made his MLB debut with them in 2021.

Baseball career

Castro was born in

Maracay, Venezuela ) , image_skyline = , image_caption =Top:Maracay Municipal Garden and Las Delicias area, Second:Sindoni Tower, Los Tamarindo residential area and overview to Maracay, Third:Maestranza Cesar Giron Bullring Stadium, Girardot Square and Maracay ...

. At 15 years of age, he hit 88 mph in his second bullpen session.

Minor leagues

Castro signed with the

as an international

for $100,000 in 2015, when he was 16 years old. Originally a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

, he converted to

. In 2016, he pitched for the Rookie-level

DSL Giants The Dominican Summer League Giants or DSL Giants are a minor league baseball team in the Dominican Summer League. The team plays in the Boca Chica South division and is affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. History The team first came into e ...

in the Dominican Summer League (DSL; Southern Division), and was 3-1 with a 4.71

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

in 14 relief appearances covering 21

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

s. He underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

in 2017. That led to him missing all of the 2017 season and nearly all of the 2018 season, only pitching one inning in 2018 in the DSL. In 2019 he was both a mid-season and post-season

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Pacific Northwest, Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Maj ...

All Star for the Class A Short Season

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league entirely based in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area and playing all their home ...

, for whom he was 5-3 with a 2.66 ERA and 0.96

WHIP A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

(leading the league) in 14 starts (2nd) covering 67.2 innings (2nd). The Giants added him to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

after the 2020 season. He split 2021 between the

Triple-A West The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Bas ...

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 yea ...

and the major league Giants. With the River Cats, Castro was 6-1 with one save and a 2.86 ERA in 30 relief appearances covering 44 innings, in which he gave up 6.3 hits and struck out 12.3 batters per 9 innings. He throws a

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thro ...

that reaches 97 mph, a sharp power

curveball In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curve ...

, and a changeup.

Major leagues

San Francisco Giants

On September 6, 2021, Castro was called up by the Giants to the Major Leagues. A day later, he made his

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

debut against the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

at 22 years of age. Castro pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one batter. In the 2021 regular season, he was 1-1 with an 0.00 ERA. In 10 games he pitched 13.1 relief innings, in which he had 13 strikeouts. In the post-season, in the

2021 NLDS The 2021 National League Division Series were two best-of-five-games series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine the participating teams of the 2021 National League Championship Series. The three divisional winners, seeded first through thir ...

he pitched an additional 1.1 innings of shutout ball in two games, for a combined total of 14.2 innings of 0.00 ERA baseball on the season. On August 1, 2022, the Giants designated Castro for assignment.

Chicago Cubs

On August 2, 2022, he was claimed off waivers by the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

and was optioned to Triple-A

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. On September 6, Castro was designated for assignment. He elected free agency on November 10, 2022.

Detroit Tigers

On December 25, 2022, Castro signed a minor league deal with the

. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/12/tigers-sign-kervin-castro-to-minor-league-deal.html

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Kervin 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Maracay Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Major League Baseball pitchers San Francisco Giants players Chicago Cubs players Dominican Summer League Giants players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players Sacramento River Cats players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic