José Castillo (pitcher)


José Gregorio Castillo Tovar is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball.

Career

Tampa Bay Rays

Castillo was signed by the Tampa Bay Rays as a non-drafted free agent on July 7, 2012. He spent under 2 seasons in Tampa Bay's minor league affiliates.

San Diego Padres

Castillo was traded to the San Diego Padres in exchange for René Rivera, Burch Smith and Jake Bauers on December 19, 2014.
Castillo was selected as a member of the Venezuela national baseball team at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
After the 2017 season, the Padres added Castillo to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Castillo was called up and made his major league debut on June 2, 2018, and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with 3 strikeouts that night, including strikeouts of Cincinnati Reds all-star sluggers Joey Votto and Eugenio Suarez. He ended the season 3-3 with an ERA of 3.29 in 37 games. In innings, he struck out 52 batters.