Baltimore Orioles Ship Their Infielder To Minnesota Twins

The Baltimore Orioles made a trade with the Minnesota Twins, sending out one of their infielders.

May 5, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Baltimore Orioles hat and glove in the dugout during a game against the Atlanta Braves in the seventh inning at Truist Park. | Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Entering the season, everyone in baseball knew about the logjam in the infield that the Baltimore Orioles had across virtually every position because of their depth at both the Major League and minor league levels.

That's why it was intriguing when they decided to claim Diego Castillo off waivers this offseason.

The 26-year-old had quite the winter, getting claimed and designated for assignment by four different teams before ending up with the Orioles.

Castillo played 96 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2022, posting a slash line of .206/.251/.382 with 11 homers, 29 RBI, and an OPS+ of 77.

He was dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks following that season, but only appeared in one game for them while spending the majority of his time at Triple-A.

Baltimore started the infielder with their own Triple-A affiliate in 2024 where he had four hits in 13 at-bats during his three games. They decided to send him to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for cash considerations according to their transactions page on MLB.com.

For the long term, this makes sense for the Orioles.

They already have a loaded group of players in the minors who would get called up before Castillo, so sending him out to recoup some cash assets they might be able to use later at the trade deadline is a smart decision.

Baltimore's Triple-A team is in the midst of putting up historic offensive numbers, so losing the journeyman infielder won't hurt the depth of the organization.

It will be interesting to see when the Orioles decide to call up their current star prospects as many of them have shown they deserve a shot to play in the bigs.