Washington Nationals: 5 to watch back home against the Reds

Luis Castillo

When the Marlins acquired Dan Straily from the Cincinnati Reds this winter, one of the pitchers they gave up was right-hander Luis Castillo. Castillo will be making his big league debut tonight as he gets the call-up from Double-A Pensacola. You never know how a pitcher will do in his debut, but Castillo has earned the promotion.

In 14 starts down in the Southern League, the 24-year-old went 4-4 with a 2.58 ERA and had 81 strikeouts to 13 walks. Over his last four starts, he is 3-1 with a 1.42 ERA and had a pair of double-digit strikeout games.

According to MLB Pipeline, Castillo is the fifth best prospect in the Reds system. Here is what they had to say about his arsenal of pitches:

"“The fastball sits comfortably in the upper 90s, and he can maintain his velocity into starts thanks to a clean delivery. While some reports favor Castillo’s slider, which is a bigger breaking ball that sometimes looks more like a curve, the Reds actually favor his changeup."

In his debut, Castillo will go up against Stephen Strasburg, who had to battle in his last start against the Mets, but ended up getting the win. Strasburg is now 6-1 in his last eight starts and has given up two runs or fewer in five of his last six starts.

Against the Reds in his career, Strasburg is 2-1 with a 4.35 ERA. Last season, he had 15 K’s in two starts against Cincinnati. In addition to Votto having two home runs, Scooter Gennett also had a pair of homers in five at-bats.