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A lot of the time, you can look at a fantasy draft board and its rankings and think to yourself "Okay, that makes sense". Then there are times when it just doesn't make sense, which is the case with Luis Castillo.
I just went and checked out a Yahoo Mock Draft, because the rankings seemed weird to me. Castillo finished 28th last year in standard leagues and as the 7th SP. However, the 2nd ranked pitcher was Spencer Strider, who finished 20th. That shows you just how close they all were. Seeing that, you would expect Castillo, especially in standard leagues, to be ranked near the top 5, right?
Luis Castillo can lead your rotation as a 3rd round pick
Nope, and he isn't even close. For some reason, Yahoo has him 77th and ranked as the 24th SP in this upcoming season. That just seems dumb and like they don't know what they're doing. Especially when their Xrank (expert) has him 36th overall. So, let's turn to FantasyPros once again, as they seem to do the best job. This makes a lot more sense. They have Luis Castillo as the 6th ranked starting pitcher for 2024 drafts.
25. Corbin Burnes
28. Zack Wheeler
30. Kevin Gausman
36. Luis Castillo
39. Pablo Lopez
42. George Kirby
40. Zac Gallen
No, not a typo. Thats how they have it. Kirby is 8th/42nd, and Gallen is 9th/40th. Has something to do with variance in rankings I believe. It's a story for another day.
They've got his average draft position at 33 as well, which means the early 4th round of a ten-team, or mid to late third in a 12 team. I don't think you want to reach too far for him, but once you see Corbin Burnes go, you should be ready to pull the trigger on Castillo if you want him. That might mean taking him in the mid-late 20s, which is totally fine. I think taking him half a round early to get an "ace" is 100% worth it.
A healthy Castillo is going to give you 190-200 innings while pushing 220 Ks. It helps that his WHIP will likely be below 1.100 again, giving you a healthy advantage in all 4 of the SP categories in a standard 5x5 movie. If you have, say the 8th pick in a 10-man draft, then selecting him 28th would be perfect. Either go hitter-hitter and then Castillo or tempt yourself with Strider with one of those picks and have a dominate top of the rotation.
If you're looking to get Castillo, you likely want to do it by the end of the third, or early mid in the 3rd in a 12-team league. If you are able to grab him around there, you should feel happy with the pick you were able to make with Castillo leading your rotation.