It's fair to say the White Sox's decision to trade for Luis Castillo was met with some skepticism. They're in position for a playoff spot, but Castillo was an expensive addition for a team that has been hesitant to spend a lot of money in recent years, and more importantly … he just hasn't looked like a very good pitcher this season. Certainly not the kind of pitcher who should be the biggest splash for an upstart, would-be contender.
But it's always worth giving pitchers a chance to show something new when they're in a new situation, and while Castillo's first start with the White Sox was a dud, the team identified some changes they wanted him to make, and then he went out in his second start Wednesday and dominated in a way he hasn't done in a while.
Facing the Reds, Castillo went out and tossed seven shutout innings, his first time with more than even six shutout innings since the first start of the season. But his dominance went beyond that, as he also struck out 10 batters in the game, three more than he has struck out in any other start this season and his most in a start since his final start of 2025.
What changed? Well, as James Fegan of SoxMachine.com wrote the morning of the start, Castillo had gone away from his changeup during his time in Seattle, leaning instead on his slider. That's an organizational priority for the Mariners, but White Sox general manager Chris Getz said he wanted to see more of Castillo's changeup, and Castillo had no problem with the change.
"I'm good with it," Castillo told Fegan. "That's the second-best pitch in my repertoire.
Castillo didn't go out and throw the changeup as his primary pitch the way he often did back in the early days of his career, but after throwing it less than his slider in each of the past four seasons (including 2026 before this), he switched it up in Wednesday's start, and he had the changeup cooking. He generated eight swinging strikes on 10 swings while throwing it 19% of the time, up from 13%. It's not a huge change, but it also might just be a moment to build on, given how dominant the pitch was Wednesday.
Of course, he also had his four-seamer working better than usual in this one, generating eight whiffs on 17 swings with that one, and his sinker generated a bunch of harmless contact, too. Heck, even the slider may have benefited from its less prominent spot in the hierarchy, leading to five swinging strikes of its own. The entire arsenal was working, and maybe the White Sox might have coaxed something out of a declining Castillo.
Or maybe he ran into a Reds lineup that ranks in the bottom-seven in both wRC+ and strikeout rate on the road this season. If you're skeptical about this start, hey, I get it. You should be. It took this start just to get Castillo's ERA below 4.00 for the season, and nearly 10% of his strikeouts for the season as a whole came in this one start. We definitely need to see a whole lot more from Castillo before we declare that he is back.
But this was the best he's looked all season, and given the change of scenery, I'm willing to take it seriously. It doesn't mean he should be rostered everywhere, but if you have a roster spot to play with, Castillo is an interesting add after this one.
Pre-game Lineup Card
Here's what you might have missed from CBSSports.com's MLB coverage in recent days:
Prospects report. 15 who could make an impact down the stretch.
Matchup analysis. Scott White takes a look at 20 potential pickups who could benefit from a soft schedule down the stretch.
Salary cap debate. Dayn Perry has some thoughts on how MLB can move forward without a salary cap or a labor war heading into the CBA negotiations.
Trend watch. Can Yordan Alvarez challenge for a Triple Crown? Mike Axisa looks at that and other recent headlines and trends from around MLB.
Hitting the Wire
The top waiver-wire targets from Wednesday's action:
Joe Musgrove, SP, Padres (32%) – "This is the best I've felt in the last two years." That was what Musgrove said after his second rehab outing over the weekend, as he finally nears the end of what has become a two-year process to return from Tommy John surgery. The finish line is in sight, with 97.3 The Fan in San Diego reporting after a bullpen session Wednesday that he could be activated from the IL after making one more rehab start. Musgrove threw 53 pitches over 3.1 innings in his previous rehab outing, and notably averaged 94.7 mph on his four-seamer in that one, 1.7 mph up from where he was in 2024 and higher than he has ever recorded across a full MLB season. He'll probably give some of that back when he's asked to go five or six innings, but it's a promising sign from a guy who has been a must-start pitcher when healthy over the last four seasons he has pitched. It's not out of the question at all that Musgrove could be back in the next two weeks and could make a big impact down the stretch as the Padres try to make what once looked like an unlikely run to a playoff spot.
AJ Smith-Shawver, SP, Braves (20%) – Smith-Shawver made one start back in late July, but was optioned to Triple-A immediately after, so Fantasy players had no reason to take notice. But he held his own in that first start back from Tommy John surgery, and his velocity was up across the board from his pre-injury form, a good sign. He has been dominant down at Triple-A, putting up a 1.57 ERA with a 30.6% strikeout rate and an 8.1% walk rate, another good sign. The Braves are talking about bringing him back up to the majors in the coming days and you have to assume it'll be for good once he returns, so if you want to beat the rush for a very interesting young pitcher, now's the time to add him.
Zac Veen, OF, Rockies (23%) – I wrote at length about Veen's path back to the majors and why it's worth getting excited about him again in yesterday's newsletter, and then he went out and backed it all up by homering in his very first game back. Starting in right field and batting sixth while Cole Carrigg shifted to shortstop to start the game, Veen went 1 for 3 with a 407-foot homer and another 101-mph batted ball, giving him two hard-hit balls on three plate appearances. The playing time is still something of a question with Veen, but he has big power potential and speed, plus a home park that can help cover up for some deficiencies in his swing, and I think he's worth taking the gamble on right now.
Spencer Jones, OF, Yankees (41%) – I've got my skepticism about Jones, but he is starting to soften my heart lately. He was moved up to third in the Yankees lineup Wednesday as they continue to try to get the offense going, and he responded by going 2 for 4 with three RBI and a stolen base. It's the 13th straight game Jones has started, and while he is hitting just .196 since returning from Triple-A on July 22, his underlying numbers suggest there's a lot more room to grow – his expected batting average of .255 and expected slugging percentage of .543 will definitely play. It helps that he has cut his strikeout rate to 26% while maintaining his strong quality of contact, and if he can sustain anything like that moving forward, Jones could be a very good Fantasy option down the stretch. Again, I'm skeptical, but not so much that I'm going to write him off entirely.
Kyle Leahy, SP, Cardinals (57%) – Leahy just keeps rolling. He pitched five innings against the Phillies Wednesday, limiting them to just one run on six hits while striking out six and walking none. The strikeouts have jumped up over the past couple of starts, but I don't think that's likely to prove sustainable for him. Despite that, Leahy has a 1.75 ERA over seven starts since the beginning of July, thanks in large part to just four walks in 36 innings (plus a very good defense backing him up). Leahy isn't an ace, but he's rolling right now and looks set for a two-start week next week against the Reds and Phillies. He's a fine streamer there.
Three Up, Three Down
Three big performances that have players trending up, and three that have the arrow pointing in the opposite direction.
Three Up
Alex Bregman is waking up
Bregman's first season with the Cubs hasn't gone according to plan, but he looks determined to change that lately, and he did a lot to that end Wednesday against the Nationals. Bregman reached base safely all five times he came to the plate, going 3 for 3 with a pair of walks, and, well, I'm burying the lead here: The three hits were all homers. It's the first three-homer game in Bregman's career, and his second multi-homer game of the season, and it also came with a career-high seven RBI. And it's not like this is just a one-game outlier, as Bregman is now hitting .293 with an OPS north of .900 and 10 homers in his past 36 games. His expected wOBA in that span is up to .327, and while that isn't a great mark for most players, it's an improvement on his .311 mark for the season and in line with where he's been the past couple of seasons. Bregman's pull-heavy swing has always helped him outperform his underlying stats, but the underlying stats were just disastrously bad for much of the season. If that's starting to change and he's starting to hit more like he has throughout his career, Bregman looks a lot more interesting. I don't think we're back to treating Bregman like a star, but it's fine to view him as a top-12 third baseman again, at least.
Austin Riley is showing signs
In continuing with the theme, Riley is starting to show signs of life after a miserable first half. Actually, that's understating it: Riley has looked like the best version of himself since the All-Star break. He went 3 for 4 with a homer Wednesday and he's now hitting .292 with six homers and 16 RBI in 25 games since the break – a 39-homer, 104-RBI pace right in line with the best seasons of his career. He's also putting up a 94.1 mph average exit velocity, so you can't really argue he's getting lucky. But I'm not sure you can really argue he's fixed either – despite the hot streak, Riley is striking out 37% of the time in that span, a wholly unsustainable mark. We'll take any positive signs we can get from Riley, but given how much he seems to have had to sacrifice contact skills to hit for power, I'm not ready to say he's back yet.
Tyler Mahle is locked in
I don't think Mahle has suddenly turned into an ace, but he's clearly on a nice run right now. He looked great again Wednesday, limiting the Mets to just one run over six innings of work while striking out seven on 15 whiffs, his third straight start with at least seven strikeouts. Going back a little further, he now has a 2.52 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 36 strikeouts in 35.2 innings over his past six starts, so he's clearly locked in. It mostly comes down to command for Mahle, because his stuff doesn't necessarily look much better during this stretch, and command can come and go, so I'm not expecting Mahle to be a must-start pitcher in perpetuity. But he's looking good enough right now to justify adding in basically any league ahead of a two-start week with matchups against the Twins and Brewers next week.
Three Down
Is it time to worry about Zack Wheeler?
Wheeler's start Wednesday against the Cardinals was kind of a microcosm for his season: He was dominant early and then seemed to run out of gas. He tossed four shutout innings to open the start, needing just 49 pitches to do so, but he struggled in the fifth, ultimately giving up four runs on 35 pitches in what would prove to be his final inning. It's the fourth underwhelming outing in a row for Wheeler, and while one was shortened by rain, he still has a 7.63 ERA and 1.72 WHIP in that span. What makes it especially frustrating is that Wheeler wasn't just cruising before that; he was flat-out dominating, with at least nine strikeouts in four straight starts immediately preceding this stretch. Wheeler's velocity has bounced around in this stretch, including that start at the end of July where he was down nearly 2 mph, though it wasn't quite that bad Wednesday. Nobody around the Phillies is expressing much concern about Wheeler's performance, and for his part, Wheeler's primary emotion seems best summed up as "frustration." Given the serious shoulder surgery Wheeler underwent in the offseason, I'll admit to more concern than Wheeler is willing to acknowledge, but Wheeler was so dominant before these four starts that I'm not ready to bench him just yet.
We might be done with Bryce Miller
We might be beyond merely benching Miller. The Yankees touched him up for five runs in six innings Wednesday, and that came despite Miller leaning more heavily than ever on his best pitch, his splitter. He threw it 46% of the time (compared to a 24% rate for the season), and it was terrific, generating 11 whiffs and weak contact when Yankees hitters did manage to get wood on it. Unfortunately, his fastball wasn't nearly as effective, allowing five hard-hit balls on seven in play while generating just a 10% whiff rate. Miller came out of the gates on fire but he has a 6.12 ERA in his past six starts with just 22 strikeouts in 32.1 innings. Despite having a two-start week on the way, I just don't think you can trust Miller against matchups like the Cubs and Brewers. And if you can't start him in a two-start week, does Miller really need to be rostered in all leagues? It's a real question now.
Shane Baz finally stumbled
When things go wrong for Baz in the past, it's usually because he gets hit hard by the long ball, but that has been the biggest improvement we've seen from him in 2025, with his HR/9 dropping from 1.41 in 2025 to 0.66 entering Wednesday's start. And hey, it went down Wednesday, so if you're looking for a reason to be optimistic amidst a bit of a step back from Baz, that's one reason to look to. Of course, he was tagged for five runs on nine hits in just three innings, so it's not like there's much to take away from this one on the positive side of things, and unfortunately, I can't say I'm terribly surprised that Baz was finally tripped up. He struck out just two of 19 batters in this one, and while that's an unusually poor showing, he was striking out a decidedly pedestrian 21.5% of opposing hitters even during his 15-game stretch with a 2.93 ERA entering this one. That's not to say Baz's success was a total fluke or that what we saw from him Wednesday is the beginning of the end of his time as a relevant Fantasy pitcher; it's just to say that he's probably more like a high-3.00s ERA pitcher than a high-2.00s ERA pitcher. You're still starting him for what looks like a two-start week against the Rays in both matchups next week, but don't be surprised if he doesn't dominate again.
Extra Innings
The Brewers had a false alarm
Late Tuesday night, Fantasy Baseball Twitter was abuzz with talk about the Brewers middle infield after manager Pat Murphy told reporters that Brice Turang was dealing with a sprained thumb that could cause him to miss time. Seeing as the best prospect in baseball happens to play in the middle infield, there was plenty of speculation that maybe this could lead to a jump from Double-A to the majors for Jesus Made.
Well, as it turns out … Murphy just misspoke. Turang wasn't actually dealing with an injury at all; it was outfielder Jackson Chourio who had the injury. Both Chourio and Turang were in the lineup Tuesday, so it ultimately proved to be much ado about nothing. We'll see Made at some point in 2027, but I'd be pretty shocked if he got the call before then – his .283/.361/.460 line at Double-A is even more impressive than it seems, seeing as Made doesn't even turn 20 until next May, but he hasn't been so dominant that it demands that he skip Triple-A and debut as a teenager.
