White Sox starter Luis Castillo feels he’s ‘very, very close’ to righting ship after working on mechanics
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — After he chafed under a piggybacking role near the end of his Mariners tenure, the White Sox touted the benefits of returning Luis Castillo to a regular starter routine upon arrival, but he doesn’t seem to mind that his start on Saturday will come after eight days of rest.
“This extra time has been very beneficial,” Castillo told the Sun-Times via an interpreter. “We all have been on the same page. They are supporting me and that’s important to me too. Because what I want is to perform at the highest level, as I’ve done before.”
Sox general manager Chris Getz said the club is working with Castillo to make adjustments in the leg drive of his delivery, and he threw a bullpen on Wednesday focused on that issue. Castillo’s release point has dipped over the course of the year, which correlates with his recent struggles to command his fastball up in the zone; a necessary element to set up use of the changeup the White Sox would like to see more.
But that’s just one symptom he’s trying to address.
“What we’re trying to do is to fix the whole mechanic, not just any specific area,” Castillo said via interpreter. “Doing it in that way is going to help to get the release point a little bit higher, or to the point that it used to be before.”
Referencing old video of the 33-year-old’s best work has been at the center of the Sox’ efforts. Castillo has a 7.52 ERA since arriving via trade and is having the worst season of his career, but feels the nature of his struggles are familiar, and fixable.
“We’re very, very close to fixing the whole thing,” Castillo said via interpreter.
Not worried about infamy
With 16 games left, Colson Montgomery is at 202 strikeouts, putting him on pace to surpass–by one–Mark Reynolds’ MLB single-season record of 223 whiffs from 2009. If he’s preoccupied with the record, he’s not showing it.
“That’s the first time I ever heard about some sort of record,” Montgomery said.
But Montgomery is plenty aware that he strikes out a lot. He’d like to do it less, but swing-and-miss is also part of his power-oriented game.
“Everyone doesn’t want to strike out, but sometimes you have to accept it because you are not going to change the way you play,” Montgomery said. “Guys who strike out a lot. You see them, what do they also do? They hit a lot of homers and drive a lot of guys in.”
To his point, 2009 was Reynolds’ best season, as he hit 44 home runs. Also sitting at 44 home runs for the year right now is Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, who is ahead of Montgomery with 205 strikeouts on the season.
Sore spots
Off to a slow start (.207/.303/.241 in nine games) in September, manager Will Venable noted that Chase Meidroth’s right wrist discomfort “kind of comes and goes.” Meidroth began wearing a brace for the issue last month.
Time is running out for Joey Bart to return to action from the hand fracture he suffered via hit-by-pitch in his third game with the Sox after being acquired at the trade deadline. Venable said a recent CT scan showed the injury was still healing.