*Photo from BoSox Injection*
One of the more infamous faces of the Boston Red Sox in recent memory is attempting a comeback. Outfielder Rusney Castillo and the Washington Nationals have agreed to a minor league contract, according to the Nationals transactions page, thus confirming the deal.
The story of Castillo is a fascinating one. He defected from Cuba to sign in the major leagues, agreeing to a massive 7 year, $72.5 million deal with the Boston Red Sox during the international signing period in 2014. He immediately had his expectations skyrocket, which didn't exactly work out in the best way for Castillo.
He just didn't pan out in the majors. In 99 career major league games, split between 3 seasons with the Red Sox, Castillo has a career .262 batting average and .679 OPS, with 7 home runs and 35 RBI's to his name, along with a pretty infamous outfield blunder, not to mention the -0.3 offensive WAR he produced in Boston.
All of these things led to Castillo being DFA'd by the Red Sox early on in the 2016 season, and then being outrighted off the 40 man roster and sent to Triple A Pawtucket so his massive salary wouldn't affect the team payroll. From that point until his contract expired after the 2019 season, Castillo spent his time exclusively in Triple A, never getting another shot.
In the offseason last winter, Castillo signed a deal with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in the Japan Pacific League, where he spent the whole season. Now, he's back stateside, where the expectation is that he will start with the Triple A Rochester Red Wings, but, given the fact that the Nationals are seemingly in full on rebuild mode, the chance for Castillo to get back to the majors could present itself sooner rather than later.
Castillo will compete for a major league spot in a Nationals outfield mix that contains Juan Soto, Victor Robles, Andrew Stevenson, Lane Thomas, Donovan Casey, and Yadiel Hernandez, although it would be easier for Castillo to get a shot if the DH became a part of the NL game.
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