Welington Andrés Castillo (born April 24, 1987), nicknamed "Beef" after

Beef Wellington Beef Wellington is a steak dish of English origin, made out of fillet steak coated with pâté (often pâté de foie gras) and duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry, then baked. Some recipes include wrapping the coated meat in a crêpe or parma ...

, is a Dominican former

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 ...

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 played in

Major League Baseball 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), ...

(MLB) for 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 ...

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

, and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

Baseball career

Castillo was signed as an amateur

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 ...

by the

in 2004.

Minors

Castillo began his professional career in 2006, playing for the

AZL Cubs The Arizona Complex League Cubs are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays it home games at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona. The team is composed mainly of player ...

(seven games) and

Boise Hawks The Boise Hawks are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. Home games are played at Memorial Stadium in Garden City, Idaho, a small city surround ...

(three games), hitting a combined .188. In 2007, he hit .271 with 11 home runs and 44

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs) for the

Peoria Chiefs The Peoria Chiefs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The team was established in 1983 as the Peoria Suns. They are located in Peoria, Illinois, and are named for the Peori ...

. He split 2008 between the

Daytona Cubs Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Dayt ...

(33 games),

Tennessee Smokies The Tennessee Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in Kodak, Tennessee, a suburb of Knoxville. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They play at Smokies Stadium, directly off Int ...

(57 games) and

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. The ...

(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 in 319 at bats. 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

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 was called up by the Cubs on August 10, 2010 and spent seven games in the major leagues, hitting .300 with a home run, four doubles and five RBIs. Castillo also played in four games with Chicago, from May 12–25 while

Geovany Soto Geovany Soto (born January 20, 1983) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher from 2005 to 2017, most prominently as a member of the Chicago Cubs where he appeared in the MLB ...

was on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

(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 Steven Scott Clevenger (born April 5, 1986) is a former American professional baseball catcher. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Seattle Mariners. Early life Clevenger was raised in Glen ...

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 RBIs. Castillo was the starting catcher for the Cubs in 2014, playing in 110 games and hitting .237/.296/.389 with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

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 Miguel Angel Montero Fernandez (born July 9, 1983) is a Venezuelan-American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays, and Washington Nationals ...

Seattle Mariners

On May 19, 2015, Castillo was traded to the

in exchange for pitcher

Yoervis Medina Yoervis José Medina (born July 27, 1988) is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs. Career Seattle Mariners From 2006 to 2009, Medina played for the VSL M ...

Arizona Diamondbacks

On June 3, 2015, the Mariners traded Castillo,

Dominic Leone Dominic Joseph Leone (born October 26, 1991), nicknamed Dominator, is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He played college baseball for the Clemson Tigers. The Seattle Mariners selected Leone in the 16th roun ...

Gabby Guerrero Gabriel Guerrero Martinez (born December 11, 1993) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association of Professional Baseball. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati ...

, and

Jack Reinheimer John Patrick Reinheimer (born July 19, 1992) is an American professional baseball shortstop who is a free agent. He played college baseball at East Carolina University and played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks and New ...

to the

for

Mark Trumbo Mark Trumbo (born January 16, 1986) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2010 through 2013, for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2 ...

and

Vidal Nuño Vidal Vicente Nuño ee-dahl' nooh'-nio(born July 26, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamond ...

Baltimore Orioles

Castillo signed a one-year, $6 million contract with the

on December 16, 2016. The contract includes a $7 million player option for the 2018 season. In his Orioles debut, Castillo went 2 for 4 and collected a double on

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

. He drove in his first run as an Oriole on April 8, in a 5–4 victory over the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. His first home run with the team came on April 28, in a 14–11 loss to the Yankees. in the month of April, Castillo played in 17 games for the Orioles, slashing .314/.333/.443 with six doubles, a home run and six RBIs. On May 2, Castillo was placed on the 10-day DL with right shoulder tendinitis. He returned to the Orioles on May 16, where he collected three hits and a pair of RBIs. He would collect three hits a piece in each of his next two games, extending his streak of games with three hits to four. He became the first catcher since 1974 to do so, and just the third catcher since 1913 to accomplish the feat. In a May 19 game against the Blue Jays, Castillo hit his first home run at Camden Yards as a member of the Orioles. He would later hit a two-run home run in the tenth inning of the same game to walk it off for the Orioles. This streak ended the next night, however: he hit a go-ahead, game-winning three-run home run in the seventh inning to lead to Orioles to a 7–5 victory. It gave Castillo an RBI in six consecutive games and extended his overall hit streak to nine games. Castillo was again placed on the 10-day DL on May 31 after taking a deflected pitch in the groin area. He was activated off the DL on June 10 and was immediately slotted back into the Orioles' starting lineup. On June 14, Castillo hit his first career grand slam off former Oriole Miguel González, giving the Orioles an 8–5 lead over the White Sox and helping the Orioles end a six-game skid. He also collected a career-high five RBIs during the game.

Chicago White Sox

On December 1, 2017, Castillo signed a two-year, $15 million contract with the

. The contract includes a $8 million option for the 2020 season. On May 24, 2018, Castillo received an 80-game suspension for testing positive on

Erythropoietin Erythropoietin (; EPO), also known as erythropoetin, haematopoietin, or haemopoietin, is a glycoprotein cytokine secreted mainly by the kidneys in response to cellular hypoxia; it stimulates red blood cell production (erythropoiesis) in the bo ...

. On October 31, 2019, Castillo was traded to the Texas Rangers, along with international slot compensation, in exchange for Jonah McReynolds. The Rangers immediately declined the 2020 option on his contract, making him a free agent.

Washington Nationals

On January 24, 2020, Castillo signed a minor-league deal with the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

. On July 3, Castillo announced he would be sitting out the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He became a free agent on November 2, 2020. On December 21, 2020, Castillo re-signed with the Nationals organization on a new minor league contract. Castillo appeared in 11 games for the Triple-A

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

, batting only .143/.351/.179 with no home runs and 1 RBI. On July 4, 2021, Castillo announced his retirement from professional baseball.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Welington 1987 births Living people Arizona Diamondbacks players Arizona League Cubs players Baltimore Orioles players Boise Hawks players Chicago Cubs players Chicago White Sox players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Republic sportspeople in doping cases Daytona Cubs players Iowa Cubs players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Major League Baseball players suspended for drug offenses Mesa Solar Sox players Peoria Chiefs players Rochester Red Wings players Seattle Mariners players Tennessee Smokies players Tigres del Licey players World Baseball Classic players of the Dominican Republic 2017 World Baseball Classic players People from Santo Domingo Province