Adrian

Del Castillo

In the top of the 10th inning, Del Castillo launched a 420-foot shot at 103.3 mph off the bat to give the Diamondbacks a three-run cushion. It was his first home run of the season, but Del Castillo has just found himself in a starting job with Gabriel Moreno (oblique) landing on the injured list. We know Del Castillo has big-time power, and he could be of interest in two-catcher formats while Moreno is sidelined.

It turns out Moreno was dealing with an oblique strain when the Diamondbacks said he was dealing with lower back soreness. It’s a bit unclear how much time the 26-year-old backstop is going to miss, but oblique issues can be tricky matters. It’ll be James McCann and Adrian Del Castillo handling the catching duties in his absence.

This is now the third straight game Moreno has missed. It had previously been reported that he would wind up on the injured list, but, so far, the Diamondbacks have not decided to make that move. Instead, Adrian Del Castillo will start behind the dish and bat fourth, which will allow Jose Fernandez to bat fifth and be the designated hitter.

No surprise here with an early-afternoon contest on tap after Moreno was pulled from Friday’s game with lower back soreness. It’ll be Adrian Del Castillo handling the catching duties in his absence. The 26-year-old will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the issue. There should be a clearer idea of his status at some point this weekend.

Del Castillo, who missed the entire spring with a strained calf, is back with the Diamondbacks after going 0-for-8 in two minor league games. The team surely would have preferred to get him more at-bats before needing to use him here, but after already calling on Jose Fernandez, they don’t have any minor league position players on their 40-man roster. Del Castillo will probably do some DHing against righties and then get sent down when either Pavin Smith or Lourdes Gurriel Jr. returns.

Del Castillo, who was injured at the very beginning of the spring, is now back DHing in minor league games. He’ll probably be activated and optioned to Triple-A in mid-April.

The 26-year-old slugger is hopeful that he’ll be back in time to appear in at least a couple of Cactus League contests before spring training concludes. Even if that does happen though, he’s still likely to open the season on the injured list and will require plenty of at-bats on a rehab assignment to make up for the missed time during the spring.

Interest between the two teams was reported over the weekend, but it seems that the two sides are coming closer to an agreement. Santana hit just .219/.308/.325 with 11 homers, 54 RBI, and seven stolen bases in 474 plate appearances between the Guardians and Cubs in 2025. If this deal does come to fruition, he’ll be given a chance to battle Pavin Smith and Adrian Del Castillo for starting reps at either first base or designated hitter.

Del Castillo hasn’t been any better than McCann this year, even against righties, and pinch-hitters are just naturally at something of a disadvantage, so it seemed like an odd choice from Torey Lovullo to make the switch. Still, at least it was replacing a catcher with a catcher.... except Lovullo trusts Del Castillo so little behind the plate that he actually pulled Gabriel Moreno out of the DH spot to catch the 10th inning. That could have but didn’t really backfire on Lovullo, as the pinch-hitter in the pitcher’s spot was still on deck when the 5-1 defeat concluded in the 11th.

Castillo got the start at designated hitter on Tuesday. He took Tristan Beck deep for a two-run blast in the second inning for his third home run of the season. The 25-year-old catcher is getting sporadic playing time in the D-Backs lineup, hitting .241/.278/.380 with the three homers and 14 RBI across 115 plate appearances.