Former big leaguer receives overdue praise amid stellar Triple-A season with Royals

The Omaha Storm Chasers, Kansas City's Triple-A affiliate, have had a season defined my major league talent, whether it be high profile prospects stopping through on their way to the majors or minor league veterans using Omaha as a means to attempt a potential big league comeback.

The Royals may be better known of late for their midseason veteran depth acquisitions, however one of their offseason veteran signings has been making a major impact in Triple-A all season and now he finally has some league-wide recognition to show for it.

Infielder Harold Castro was named International League Player of the Week on Monday, off the back of an incredibly impressive series last week against St. Paul.

Harold Castro's monster week at the plate earns him some long-overdue recognition

Castro was on tear this past week, hitting .529 with four homers, seven RBI and a 1.814 OPS in 19 plate appearances across four games.

However, last week was merely a microcosm of what's been an all around excellent season for the 31-year-old infielder in his first year within the Royals organization.

In 290 plate appearances across 73 games in Omaha, he's hitting .280 with 14 HR, 41 RBI, a .792 OPS and a 102 wRC+.

This has certainly been a welcome sight for a Royals team that took a bit of a gamble on a player that hadn't played affiliated baseball, let alone at the MLB level, since 2023.

His last taste of big league baseball came with the Colorado Rockies in 2023, where he only mustered a .589 OPS and 45 wRC+. This was following two additional below average seasons in 2021 and 2022 with the Detroit Tigers - where he posted an 83 wRC+ and 93 wRC+ respectively, failing to come close to the 137 wRC+ he posted during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

The fact he's still not on Kansas City's 40-man roster at this late stage of the season could mean he may not get a shot in the majors in 2025.

However, given his versatility to play multiple positions and hitting ability this year, perhaps he could provide a bit of a breath of fresh air from a hitting standpoint if called upon, one that other current Royals utility bench options are lacking at the moment in Tyler Tolbert (60 wRC+) and Nick Loftin (68 wRC+). The possibility of a September call-up doesn't seem all that far-fetched when you really think about it, as Castro has certainly lived up to his end of the bargain.