White Sox Move Luis Castillo to Bullpen After Poor Run of Form

Rotation change for Castillo

The Chicago White Sox have decided to move pitcher Luis Castillo to the bullpen for the foreseeable future. The 33 year old right hander has struggled to a 7.76 ERA across seven outings since the team acquired him from the Seattle Mariners at the trade deadline.

Castillo arrived in Chicago as the headline trade addition. The club hoped a fresh start would turn things around after a difficult first half of the season in Seattle. Instead, his performance worsened in Chicago, where he has pitched more than 4.2 innings in only one game. Castillo is owed more than 21 million dollars next season in the final year of his contract.

Sandlin enters the rotation

Manager Will Venable addressed the move before Thursday's game against the Detroit Tigers. Venable said, "We talked to Luis. The next opportunity for him will be coming out of the bullpen. So we'll look and see what that looks like exactly."

Relief pitching is relatively new territory for Castillo. He has pitched out of the bullpen just four times in his 10 year career. All four of those outings came this season when Seattle and Chicago used openers ahead of him, though none brought positive results.

Rookie pitcher David Sandlin will take over Castillo's spot in the starting rotation. Sandlin delivered a solid outing on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals and will start on Friday in Game 2 against the Tigers.

Tight race in the AL Central

This pitching shakeup comes at an important point in the season. The White Sox held first place in the AL Central from July 4 until Wednesday, when a series loss to the Cleveland Guardians dropped them out of the top spot.

With only 10 games left on the schedule, Chicago sits half a game behind Cleveland in the division race. While the White Sox face Detroit, the Guardians rested on Thursday ahead of their home series against the Athletics on Friday.