BALTIMORE — The Orioles have placed starting catcher Welington Castillo on the 10-day disabled list with a testicular injury after he took a foul ball to the groin in Tuesday’s loss to the New York Yankees.
Castillo remained in the game and returned to the clubhouse on Wednesday, but he went to the emergency room after Tuesday’s game and would not have been available for at least a couple days, requiring the Orioles to make a move to add a second catcher behind Caleb Joseph. Castillo’s injury occurred exactly one year after Joseph took a foul ball to the groin that required emergency testicular surgery.
Fortunately, Castillo isn’t dealing with an injury as severe.
“He’s got a hematoma there in his groin that we’re going to monitor and see how it progresses,” manager Buck Showalter said prior to the move being announced. “We wouldn’t use him tonight to catch. We’re trying to decide whether we’ll DL him or not, so we’ve got the possibilities in place. We’ll make a decision shortly.”
After being designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk earlier this month, Francisco Pena was promoted to take Castillo’s spot on the 25-man roster. Showalter acknowledged that the Orioles might have been able to hold off on making a roster move with Castillo had emergency catcher and utility infielder Ryan Flaherty not currently been on the DL with a right shoulder strain.
Pena took the open spot on Baltimore’s 40-man roster.
In addition to missing Castillo’s work behind the plate, the Orioles will now be without one of their best hitters so far this season as the offense enters Wednesday ranked 20th in the majors in runs scored per game. Castillo is hitting a club-best .317 with four home runs, 17 runs batted in, and an .805 on-base plus slugging percentage despite having missed the first two weeks of May with right shoulder tendinitis.
In other injury-related news, center fielder Adam Jones returned to the lineup on Wednesday after missing four straight games with ankle and hip soreness.
The Orioles recalled right-handed pitcher Mike Wright and optioned right-hander Logan Verrett to Triple-A Norfolk to give themselves a fresh arm for the series finale against the Yankees.
Major League Baseball also announced that Orioles minor-league infielder — and former major leaguer — Robert Andino has been suspended 50 games for testing positive for amphetamines. He has been playing for Norfolk this season, hitting .234 with six home runs and 23 RBIs.
