The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran reliever Miguel Castro, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The Premier Talent Sports client will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee.
Castro just turned 31 a few weeks ago, but the well-traveled right-hander has already pitched for seven teams across parts of 11 major league seasons. Because he debuted as a 20-year-old and has managed to stick in the majors for the bulk of the past decade, he’s just three days from reaching nine full years of major league service time.
Castro began the 2025 season in the Astros organization but didn’t appear in a big league game with Houston. The ’Stros traded him to the White Sox last May in exchange for international bonus pool space. Castro was immediately selected to the major league roster but made only six appearances before suffering a torn patellar tendon in his knee while covering the bag on a grounder to first base. He missed the remainder of the season.
In parts of 11 seasons, Castro has pitched 466 2/3 innings, almost exclusively in relief. (He has four “starts” in his career, though they’ve been as an opener in a bullpen game.) Listed at an incredibly lanky 6’7″ and 201 pounds, Castro owns a lifetime 4.24 ERA in the big leagues. His strikeout and walk rates of 20.4% and 11.7%, respectively, are both worse than average. He’s typically been a well above-average ground-ball pitcher, however, thanks in large part to a power sinker that has averaged 96.5 mph in his career. That number sat at 95.1 mph during last year’s small sample of six MLB innings but was at 95.6 mph in Triple-A.
The Angels’ bullpen currently features several veterans looking to rebound from injury and/or poor performance. Robert Stephenson, Kirby Yates and Jordan Romano all fit that description. Lefty Drew Pomeranz had a terrific 2025 showing with the Cubs, but that marked his first MLB work since 2021, so the 37-year-old is something of a wild card himself. Given the glaring lack of proven relievers in rookie skipper Kurt Suzuki’s bullpen, there should be plenty of opportunity for the veteran Castro to win a spot this spring, unless the Halos have some further guaranteed deals or trades coming to fortify the relief corps.