D-backs Manager Torey Lovullo Confirms Adrian Del Castillo Call Up

The Diamondbacks top catching prospect will be replacing an injured Gabriel Moreno

Adrian Del Castillo during photo day at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Feb. 21, 2024. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, speaking on MLB Network's High Heat program, confirmed that catcher Adrian Del Castillo is being called up from Triple-A Reno to join the team.

The team has not yet sent out an official notification, as there are 40-man roster moves to be made in conjunction with this call up. They are also activating Eduardo Rodriguez for today's start, and will need to make corresponding moves there as well.

Torey just confirmed Adrian Del Castillo callup on High Heat in an interview. High hopes for the young catcher but big shoes to fill!

— DbacksMT (@JeffIrving16) August 6, 2024

Del Castillo will be replacing Gabriel Moreno, who exited Monday night's game with a left groin strain. While the team has not yet made it official, Moreno is certainly headed for an injured list stint. He is back in Phoenix being evaluated by team doctors this morning. The extent, or grade of his strain, is not known as of this writing.

Lovullo said on the high heat program "[Moreno] is on the way back to Arizona as we speak, right now to get an MRI and be evaluated by our doctors. He is going to be put on the IL... we're going to have Del Castillo come up from Triple-A."

The 24-year-old Del Castillo has emerged as one of the Diamondbacks top prospects this summer. The left-handed hitting slugger is batting .319/.403/.608, 1.011 OPS with 24 homers. Even in the supercharged environment of the Pacific Coast League and the ballpark in Reno, that is a remarkable power surge.

His wRC+ is 143. That is a measure that takes into account league batting environment. 100 = league average. Castillo's previous high in home runs was the 14 he hits last year splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A.

Fangraphs has a translated projected batting line of .239/.310/.395, .705 OPS, which works out to a 97 wRC+ by their calculations. The average MLB catcher, including starters and backups combined, has a 92 wRC+. That's probably a more reasonable expectation, and of course making the adjustment to MLB while trying to learn the catching needs is a big task for any rookie.

It is his defense that will be the main focus for the Diamondbacks, not the bat. Speaking with Diamondbacks Farm Director Shaun Larkin last month, he gave glowing reports on his work ethic and improvements on this front.

"His receiving has been much better this year, he's receiving the ball really well, well above average. With that the blocking has been better. The throwing is something he's working on. Whether it's his pure arm strength, his accuracy, his transfer times, and putting himself in a better position to throw, he's working on all those things. It's been diligent work, and it's getting better."

Del Castillo has caught 58 games, 507 innings this year. He's allowed six passed balls and made five errors. Teams are running on him, as there have been 90 attempts in less than half a season's worth of innings behind the plate. 71 have been successful, with 19 caught. That is a caught stealing rate of 21%. The MLB average caught stealing rate is 22%.

We project Del Castillo to get his first start Wednesday in the day game following Tuesday night's contest against the Guardians in Cleveland.

Last month our own Jake Oliver had a chance to interview Del Castillo for a long interview. Be sure to check out that article linked below.

Catching Up with Star D-backs Prospect Adrian Del Castillo