Cincinnati Reds starter Luis Castillo named to MLB All Star team

It has not been a season to remember for the Cincinnati Reds. Transactional departures followed immediately after a greed-fueled lockout, with the team’s ownership doing everything they could to stick their feet in their mouths with every move they made, only for Phil Castellini to actually stick his foot in his mouth with his comments on Opening Day.

Injuries followed early and often from that point forward, and the result was a start to a season so poor that it doomed any and all chance they’d have anything to play for by the end of April. One of those dooming injuries was to the shoulder of ace Luis Castillo, though admittedly his month-long absence cannot be solely to blame for the state the team is in today.

To his credit, however, Castillo not only got through rehab and back on a big league bump in quick order, he’s been positively brilliant ever since returning. He’s pitched to a 2.92 ERA and 3.03 FIP in 12 starts, his 1.099 WHIP so far a career-best mark. The walk-rate is down, the homers allowed are, too, and the end result has been a player pitching as if he’s one of the absolute best at his craft on the planet.

It’s All Star season, and on Sunday, that effort was rewarded as Castillo was named to the National League All Star team for his second time as member of the Reds, who announced it on Twitter on Sunday evening.

If anything, it should give us all at least one more chance to see him in a Reds uniform on national television before the August 2nd trade deadline. So, we’ve got that going for us, which is nice.

While Castillo was absolutely a deserving member of the squad, so, too, was Brandon Drury, though the latter was omitted from the team for whatever reason. Surely it has nothing to do with the Reds position at the bottom of the standings. Surely.

Congrats to Luis (and to Brandon, really), and here’s to enjoying the Bugs Bunny change-up on display for the world to see next week.