Luis Castillo Wows Pirates Tyler Mahle Viewed From Pirates Scouts

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It is one thing when your own manager compliments his prospects.and to be polite you might get a mild compliment from the opposing manager when an opposing prospect is mediocre.

On Sunday after Luis Castillo allowed one run over seven innings to the Pittsburgh Pirates, manager Clint Hurdle’s first reaction when asked, “Wow.”

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“He was impressive. That’s the beautiful thing about watching a kid in a game and having a dugout view versus a video.  His stuff looked good on video, it did  It looked way better from the dugout. We had seen him elevate the ball with a lot more regularity, whether it was by design or not.  One of our goals was to look down. He didn’t spend a lot of time up last night.  The fastball was real with finish and the breaking ball was really effective and sharp.  He threw some change ups a well, the rhythm the pace.  He’s a good looking pitching prospect.”

Hurdle said after last night’s game that Castillo’s slider was the best he’s seen.

Reds’ assistant general manager Nick Krall found Hurdle’s remarks interesting.

“The slider was the last thing we had concerns about,” Krall said.  “I saw how much it improved in a game at Pensacola.  That is one of the things that got him here this year.”

Hurdle visited briefly with former Reds’ reliever Tom Hume before meeting the press corp.

The Pirates get to look at another Reds’ prospect Tyler Mahle Sunday.

Pittsburgh has video from a game Mahle pitched against Indianapolis, the Pirates Triple A team.

“We’re up to speed,” Hurdle said.  “We have several camera views, behind the batter, behind the pitcher, from both sides.  We have as much on this guy as we’ve had on anybody.  I said yesterday, I don’t know how we played this game 30 years ago.  If you get it, you get it. Like I tell my kids, you get what you get and don’t throw a fit.  You take the tape you look at it.  You talk to people who have seen him pitch in person.”

The Pirates had three separate reports on Mahle on Hurdle’s desk.  None of which gives the Pirates an advantage.

“I’ve always said the advantage is to the pitcher, if he makes good pitches,” Hurdle said.  “If he doesn’t he’s going to get blasted.  It’s pretty simple.”

What do the three different guys who saw Mahle pitch say?

“The numbers pretty much play.  Early in the year the velocity was higher,” Hurdle read. “He’s fastball, change up, to the lefties an occasional curveball, get me over early in the count. He’s going to challenge.  It is back and forth.  It is all about command.  He’s a good athlete. He fields his position well.  He can control the running game. Butch sent us one a couple days ago. He’s a strike thrower, tries to get the ball on the ground.”