Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, on his radio show with 93.7 The Fan on Sunday, was asked about a potential suspension being served to infielder Rodolfo Castro after his infamous cellphone incident in Arizona last week.
Cherington basically brushed it off. Castro, the Pirates and even the umpires from that game against the Diamondbacks all believed Castro made an honest mistake. Because they hadn’t heard anything regarding a potential suspension within a week of the incident, they believed Castro was in the clear. Multiple Pirates officials told the Post-Gazette off the record they didn’t expect to hear anything from the league.
As it turns out, they were wrong. The league issued a one-game suspension and a fine to Castro.
“I truly respect MLB’s decision,” Castro said through team interpreter Mike Gonzalez. “Like I mentioned [last week], none of this was intentional. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I hate that it continues, but I truly do respect the decision MLB made.”
Castro, however, has decided to appeal the ruling from MLB, and while that appeal is ongoing, Castro will be allowed to play for the Pirates. He said immediately after that game, when his phone slipped out of his pocket as he was sliding headfirst into third base, he had made a mistake. He’d forgotten his phone was in his back pocket and had put his sliding mitt over top of it. He keeps the sliding mitt in his pants throughout the game, and because he hadn’t been on base earlier in the game, he hadn’t felt his phone.
With that, he wants to plead his case to MLB, to further assert he wasn’t trying to pull anything sneaky with an electronic device on the field.
“I do know that it was a mistake. It’s something I wasn’t even really conscious of. It’s something I truly didn’t intend to happen. Mostly, more than anything, I just want MLB to hear my version of the story and make sure they understand the heart behind everything.”
Ken Rosenthal of the The Athletic reported last week MLB was looking into the matter. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, that investigation included analyzing Castro’s phone afterward and discovering that he had not used it during the game. The Pirates, however, didn’t really hear anything further about the investigation until Monday.
“It didn’t really entail anything from our end,” manager Derek Shelton said, with regards to the investigation. “I talked to the umpires on the field about it initially, and I think we talked about it when we were in Arizona. We just waited to hear. We heard yesterday. Ben heard yesterday from Major League Baseball. Went about it that way, but yeah, that was kind of how it went down.”
What has been interesting is Castro has played well since returning from Triple-A Indianapolis last Tuesday. In six games, he’s gone 8 for 21 (.381), with two triples, a double and a homer off San Francisco Giants ace Carlos Rodon.
Hayes to IL, Padlo activated
Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes didn’t play at all in San Francisco over the weekend, with back spasms hindering him. The plan was for Hayes to get back to Pittsburgh, analyze the severity of the issue and decide from there whether a stint on the injured list would be needed.
That didn’t work out for the Pirates.
“Nothing really changed. That was the problem,” Shelton said. “It just didn’t get any better. We had to get him on the IL and make sure we get another body here.”
To replace his production, the Pirates called up newly claimed infielder Kevin Padlo. The 26-year-old has played in just 20 career MLB games without much success, hitting .143 in 35 at-bats for the Tampa Bay Rays, San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners.
In the minors, however, Padlo has found some success this season. In 22 games with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, he had a .933 OPS, struggled a bit more with Seattle’s Triple-A team, then exploded in a tiny sample size in Indianapolis after the Pirates claimed him.
It was just four games, but Padlo went 8 for 15 with a homer and two doubles. It’s possible the Pirates would have waited a bit longer to call him up, but Hayes’ injury necessitated a corresponding move and Padlo got the call. Shelton slotted him immediately into the five spot in the lineup, and Padlo will start at first.
Now, he’ll have another chance, with another organization, to prove he can stick around in the majors.
“I’m just going to go out there and play my game,” Padlo said. “I think, if I play the way I’m capable of, that’s going to be good enough. When I’m playing well, it’s tough to find a better player.”
Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak
First Published: August 16, 2022, 7:55 p.m.
