DETROIT — Thursday was a day of league-wide roster shuffling, as MLB teams were required to reinstate players from the 60-day injured list.
It was also the final day to add non-MLB players to the 40-man roster to prevent them from becoming minor-league free agents.
There were only a handful of such moves around the league, but one stood out: hard-throwing right-hander Kervin Castro, who turned heads in Detroit Tigers spring training back in 2023, was added to the 40-man roster by the New York Yankees.
Had Castro reached minor-league free agency, he likely would have drawn widespread interest as a bullpen candidate and might have even landed a big-league deal.
Castro, 26, had a 1.53 ERA in 47 innings for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton in 2025. He struck out 52 and walked 22.
He debuted in 2021 with the San Francisco Giants, throwing 13 1/3 scoreless innings and earning a spot on the club’s playoff roster, but he struggled the following year and eventually landed in Detroit as a minor-league free agent.
He pitched well for the Tigers in spring training and posted a 2.32 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 15 innings for Triple-A Toledo before going on the injured list. The Tigers later announced that Castro had undergone Tommy John surgery, the second major elbow repair of his young career.
After being released by Detroit, Castro signed a minor-league deal with the Houston Astros but was quickly snapped up by the New York Yankees in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 Draft. The Yankees were willing to be patient, as he spent all of 2024 rehabbing his injury and didn’t reach the big leagues in 2025. Perhaps 2026 could mark his long-awaited return.
Evan Woodbery has covered the Detroit Tigers and Major League Baseball for MLive.com since 2016. He has previously covered the Saints/NFL for The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com; University of Tennessee athletics for…
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