2:30 p.m: The Diamondbacks have officially announced these and other moves. Del Castillo was selected and Moreno was placed on IL with a strained left adductor. They also returned the left Eduardo Rodríguez from the 60-day IL, a move reported last week. To open up Rodriguez, the club opted to use a right-hander Humberto Castellanos and transferred accordingly Bryce Jarvis in IL for 60 days. Last week it was also reported that Jarvis is unlikely to return this year due to a sprained right elbow.
12:40 p.m: The Diamondbacks will field a catcher Gabriel Moreno on the 10-day injured list with a groin injury, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on X. Fellow backstop Adrian Del Castillo he will be elected to have his contract replaced by Moreno on the roster. The Serpents already have 40 man slots so nothing more will be needed.
Moreno limped during yesterday's game when he tried to run a low ball. He was removed from the competition with the team describing him as having injured his left hip. It is still unclear how long he is expected to be sidelined, but it hurts the Diamondbacks regardless. Moreno is hitting .262/.344/.385 this year with a 107 wRC+ with solid defensive margins as well. FanGraphs rates him as worth 2.4 wins over 86 games.
It's the second IL season of the year for Moreno, who also missed some time at the end of June with a sprained left thumb. Before that, she had been sharing hosting duties with him Tucker Barnhartwith José Herrera was called upon to pair with Barnhart in Moreno's absence. When Moreno was ready to return in early July, the club decided to keep Herrera around, while Barnhart was designated for assignment and eventually released.
That left the Diamondbacks with Moreno and Herrera as the only backstops on the 40-man roster. Now that Moreno is headed to the IL again, they need to reach out to their undrafted depth, making Del Castillo move up to the majors for the first time.
Now 24 years old, Del Castillo was a competitive draft pick in 2021, 67th overall in that year's draft. Baseball America ranked him #29 in Arizona's program entering this year but he has moved up to #16 in their latest update. He was #36 on FanGraphs at the start of the year.
BA considers him a defensive player but strong at the plate, which showed at times during his minor league career. That's especially true here in 2024, which is probably why they got such a noticeable bump in BA rankings. In 100 Triple-A games this year, he has 24 home runs, an 11.5% walk rate and a 16.8% strikeout rate. His .319/.403/.608 batting line translates to a 143 wRC+ even in the highly favored Pacific Coast League.
If he can bring even a fraction of that production to the big leagues as well, it will go a long way toward compensating for the loss of Moreno. Herrera hit .229/.308/.286 this year with a 72 wRC+ where his glovework ranked as the league's closer. Maybe Del Castillo can beat him at the plate, but even top prospects can struggle when he gets exposure to the majors. The club will also have to consider that Herrera has a head start on Del Castillo in terms of building a relationship with the playing staff.
The Snakes are currently 61-52 and are actually in a three-way tie for the National League Wild Card spots with Atlanta and San Diego. Atlanta is 60-51 and in percentage points ahead of the other two clubs, each at 61-52. The Mets are only 1.5 games behind that team with five other clubs behind New York. With such a tight playoff race, the importance of every game will be magnified going forward. The catching situation may change in the coming weeks, depending on how much time Moreno needs to miss and how Del Castillo performs in his first taste of the majors. Herrera is in his final option year and will run out of options in 2025.
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