Royals Sign Dominican Pitcher Darwin Castillo

The Royals have signed Dominican pitcher Darwin Castillo out of the Dominican Prospect League.  Castillo is a 6’5″ 215 lb pitcher who pitched two innings in the DPL All-Star game last Saturday.  The reported bonus was for $300,000.

Clint Scoles at 14 for 77 says he has a fastball in the 88-92 mph range.  From his scouting video, it looks like he throws a big curve too.  There’s not a lot of information out there about him yet, including his age.  Most of the players on the DPL rosters are in the range of 16-19 years old, and according to their founder, they provide extensive background checks to verify the ages of players and aim to be transparent with all information so we can assume he’ll be in that age range.  Just at a glance, he looks like he’s filled out a bit so he’s probably 18 or 19.  As soon as more information gets out, I’ll update that description.

He has a slow motion that looks alright, but it looks like there’s a little pause in some of his warmups at the top of his leg kick.  It’s a fairly consistent delivery despite that and his pitches look to have a lot of life on them.  Maybe the little hitch is something I’m only seeing, so check it out for yourself and comment if you notice anything.

If I had to guess, Castillo will spend most or all of 2011 in the instructional leagues as the Royals tune up his mechanics and get him worked into professional baseball.

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