Former White Sox catcher Welington Castillo has officially called it a career. The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty first reported Beef’s retirement in a tweet earlier this morning.
Castillo, 34, spent 10 seasons in the Major Leagues with five different teams. They included, in order, the Cubs (2010-15), the Mariners (2015), the Diamondbacks (2015-16), the Orioles (2017), and the White Sox (2018-19). Despite being in the Nationals organization for the past two seasons, he never made it to the majors as his last big league appearance came on September 29th, 2019.
While Castillo’s two-year, $15 million signing generated much excitement among the Sox fanbase during the 2017 offseason, his overall tenure with the team was nothing short of disappointing. Right off the bat, he was suspended in May 2018 for eighty games after testing positive for a banned substance – Erythropoietin. Sure enough, the reports of his suspension came out mid-game on May 23rd, the date of our first ever Sox On 35th tailgate and meet-up. It was only fitting that our Jonnie Nonnie was there to send him off in style.
Upon his return to action in September 2018, Castillo struggled at the plate and didn’t generate much offense in 2019. The emergence of All-Star James McCann also didn’t help his cause any as he officially lost the starting job. As the primary backup that season, Beef went on to slash .209/.267/.417 with 12 doubles, 12 home runs, and 41 RBI over 72 games. By the end of his two-year run on the South Side, he only hit .230/.282/.413 with 18 home runs, 19 doubles, 56 RBI, and a .695 OPS.
Shortly after the season’s end, the Sox traded Castillo to the Texas Rangers on October 31st along with $250,000 international signing bonus pool money for minor leaguer Jonah McReynolds. Nothing would really ever come out of the deal for either team, as the Rangers declined the 2020 option on Castillo’s contract to make him a free agent.
While Castillo’s career probably didn’t end the way he would’ve like, he did finish with slightly above average numbers for backstops. He tallied a .254/.313/.426 slash with 626 hits (126 doubles, 1 triple, and 98 home runs), 339 RBI, and a 12.3 WAR over 10 major league seasons. Here’s to hoping Beef enjoys his retirement!
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