After trading for Miguel Montero and signing David Ross this off-season, the Chicago Cubs have made incumbent catcher Welington Castillo very available on the trade market. After sending Montero to the Cubs earlier this off-season, the Arizona Diamondbacks are in the market for a new backstop, and have recently been connected to Castillo.

At 27-years-old, Castillo has yet to fully prove himself at the major league level. Through 963 MLB at-bats, Castillo is hitting .256/.324/.500. He has spent the past two seasons as the Cubs’ regular catcher, with underwhelming offensive results. Despite his inconsistency at the plate, Castillo has good contact abilities and a fair amount of power. The Cubs’ catcher shows nice offensive upside.

Defensively, Castillo has all of the physical tools that traditional baseball people like to see in a catcher, led by his strong throwing arm. Unfortunately, Castillo’s defensive performance has not impressed the advanced stat-heads. He ranks towards the bottom of baseball at pitch framing, which has become more and more important to teams in recent times.

Montero and Ross are both excellent pitch framing catchers, making it fair to wonder whether the Cubs are moving on from Castillo because of his lack of progression in that skill.

While he certainly has some flaws, Castillo has some nice offensive upside, and has the raw skills to grow in to a productive defensive catcher. With Montero and Ross onboard, the price to acquire Castillo may not be much.

The Diamondbacks are in need of a starting caliber catcher. While Castillo is far from perfect, giving up a little in a trade for an option with starting experience and upside feels like a smart move for Arizona.

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About the author
Dan Schmelzer
Dan is a 25-year-old writer who specializes in Chicago Cubs content. Dan also writes about the Iowa Hawkeyes, Fantasy Football, and covers the NFL.