Miguel Castro off to strong start out of O's 'pen

He is one of several Orioles relievers who may be showing early this season that some offseason improvements and tweaks are taking hold. O's bullpen right-hander Miguel Castro has thrown 6 1/3 scoreless innings to date over six games, allowing four hits with one walk to eight strikeouts.

For Castro, command and control have always been big because the raw stuff is solid. His fastball velocity is up from last year's 97.4 mph to 98.0, and his changeup speed is up from 90.6 mph to 92.4 per FanGraphs.com. In this season's small sample, his strikeout rate is up from 2019's 8.7 to 11.4 and his walk rate is way down, from 5.0 to 1.4 per every nine innings.

Castro talked with reporters this afternoon in a Zoom interview with interpreting help from Felipe Rojas Alou Jr., the director of the Orioles' Dominican Republic Academy.

"Heading into the offseason there were some ideas (for improvement) from the pitching coaches and now, with all this down time between March and now, I was able to put that in play," said Castro. "And work closely with what the pitching coaches were telling me. Right now, I feel a lot more comfortable. My mechanics feel very comfortable and I feel like I've got them there. Just a matter of being ready to go.

"So far things have been good. Just ready to compete. We have only 60 games, so you have to stay ready. It's just a matter of staying focused."

Castro's fastball usage has gone down every year since 2017 - from 61 percent to 57, 49 and, so far this season, 44. That gives more opportunity to throw his slider and changeup.

"I feel more confident in throwing my secondaries and mixing my pitches," he said. "At the end of the day, you have to put in the work and it will show. I have a personal trainer and he has been very helpful through the years. If you put in the effort, some good things will show."

Castro likes the potential of the O's 'pen. One that now has to play on without a veteran leader in Richard Bleier. The O's bullpen has not been scored on in three of the past four games. Over the last six games, the 'pen ERA is 1.64.

"It was sad to see Richard go, but this is part of the business," Castro said." I mean, so far, things have been good. It's a team effort, not only from the bullpen, but players going about their business every day. The bullpen has been very competitive and guys have been ready when they get the ball. So, pretty confident the bullpen is going to be good."

The bullpen, said Castro, remains a strong unit within the bigger group.

"Communication has been really good among us," he said. "We stay really close as a group. We treat each other like family. If something comes up, we discuss. There have been several ideas out there and we talk about it and roll with it. Been good with the bullpen and the guys," he said.

The Orioles wrap up their four-game series with Miami tonight at 7:35 p.m. Lefty Wade LeBlanc (1-0, 4.09 ERA) will face Miami right-hander Jordan Yamamoto, who will be making his season debut.