The Orioles announced that the right-hander Anthony Castro was claimed to Guardians waivers, then opted for Triple-A. right-handed Phoenix sanders has been designated for an assignment in a corresponding movement. Plus, Baltimore played squarely in the infield. Richie Martin at Triple-A, as Martin cleared the waivers after being nominated earlier this week.
Castro has kicked off each of the last three MLB seasons, all with different teams – the Tigers in 2020, the Blue Jays in 2021 and the Guardians in 2022. Cleveland acquired Castro from Toronto for Bradley Zimmer in April, and Castro ended up posting a 7.43 ERA over 13 1/3 relief innings in the majors.
Within this small sample size, Castro issued 10 walks and cleared five home runs. Control has been a persistent issue for Castro throughout his nine professional seasons, although at least at the minor league level, Castro has been able to mitigate many of those free passes due to strikeout rates. solids and base rates that are regularly above 50% at the threshold. Over 596 minor league 1/3 innings, Castro has a 3.47 ERA.
Between those decent numbers and a mid-’90s fastball, Castro has attracted interest from the Orioles, and he’ll now provide extra depth to the bullpen for surprise suitors. He will replace Sanders, who himself was a waiver request from the Rays roster less than two weeks ago.
Sanders has yet to see any Major League action with the Orioles, so his big league resume consists of the 14 2/3 innings he pitched for Tampa Bay earlier this season. The 27-year-old’s first look at the show resulted in a very respectable 3.07 ERA. Throwing primarily as a reliever during his career, Sanders posted a 3.46 ERA and 29.55 percent strikeout rate over 260 innings in the minor leagues.
However, his job at Triple-A this year has been tough, with Sanders delivering just a 6.19 ERA on 32 frames. Some back issues could be partly to blame, or maybe Sanders struggled to adjust to his first time shuttling between the minors and the Rays roster. Given his track record, it would seem possible that another club will catch Sanders in yet another waiver request.
