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Is this the year he becomes an ace?"hed eighth in Rookie of the Year balloting in 2017Better at baseball than you or any of your friendsOrganizational historySigned by the San Francisco Giants as an international free agent in 2011Traded by the Giants with Kendry Flores to the Miami Marlins for Casey McGeheeTraded by the Marlins to the San Diego Padres in a six-player deal , then given back to Miami when Colin Rea’s medicals were called into questionTraded by the Marlins with Zeek White and Austin Brice to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Dan StrailyWill be arbitration-eligible after 2020, and a free agent after 2023Career statsScouting reportKen Gif-y Jr.Luis is likeAnd then I’m likeProjectionsOutlookIn retrospect, it was always going to be difficult for Luis Castillo to finish the 2018 season having fully lived up to the potential his 2017 debut hinted at. The Cincinnati Reds hadn’t had a pitcher look the way he did in his rookie season in some time, as Castillo threw 89.1 innings with a 3.12 ERA, a 27.3 percent strikeout rate, and a 84 FIP-. His xwOBA allowed was in the 92nd percentile among among MLB pitchers, his fastball was Noah Syndergaard-esque, and his change-up was nightmare fuel for hitters. Lots of digital ink was used to declare Castillo an ace-in-waiting, with a breakout campaign in 2018 all that was needed to solidify him as one of the game’s most dominant young starters.The breakout didn’t happen. Castillo finished April with a 7.85 ERA, with 24 strikeouts and 13 walks in 28.2 innings. Questions swirled about what was holding him back, and as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon wrote about at the time, everything from a changed arm angle to a dip in velocity to even tipping pitches was discussed as explanations for Castillo’s sudden struggles. He steadied himself a bit over the next couple of months, but when the All-Star break rolled around , his ERA was still sitting at 5.49, with 19 home runs allowed in 103.1 innings.When the Reds returned for the second half of the season, however, Castillo pitched like a man who had figured things out. He owned a 2.44 ERA in 66.1 innings the rest of the way, with 69 strikeouts, 14 walks and nine homers allowed. He was at his best in the month of September, posting a 1.09 ERA in 33 innings with a dreamy line of 34 strikeouts, eight walks and four homers allowed.Where does all of that leave Castillo and the Reds? Oddly enough, in a place very similar to where they were a year ago. Castillo didn’t achieve the breakout many envisioned in 2018, but because he finished the season with such a compelling run of performances, we’ve found ourselves once again optimistic that he’ll establish himself as a frontline starter this year.For that to happen, Castillo will need to prove that the regression in both his batted ball profile and his overall stuff in 2018 was a mirage. His four-seam velocity dropped from 97.4 to 95.8, and lost a considerable amount of the spin it had when he first broke into the majors. Opponents’ average exit velocity also climbed from 84.9 to 88.1 , and their xwOBA went from .264 to .318. It was a clear step back across the board, and if those are the kind of numbers he’s settled into, Castillo is much closer to a No. 4 than a No. 1.What Castillo does still have going for him, though, is a fastball that remains near elite in terms of its velocity, and a change-up that might be one of the best pitches in the sport. He also throws tons of strikes, and still has plenty of projection in his slider. There’s a reason that, even after his disappointing 2018, The Athletic’s Eno Sarris essentially said Castillo is as close to a perfect prototype of a young pitcher as we have in today’s game.If he doesn’t make the jump he seems capable of making, it will be another disappointment for an organization who has seen one arm after another fail to live up to their potential over the past five seasons. He’ll still settle in as a mid-to-back-end rotation cog, but it will mean the Reds’ search for an ace will need to continue in free agency — good luck with that — or in still-developing prospects like Tony Santillan and Hunter Greene.If he does become an ace, though, then that doesn’t just make Cincinnati a dangerous team in the long-term — it makes the team a contender right now. The Reds , after all, were in trade talks earlier in the winter regarding Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber, with the idea that adding a No. 1 starter was the difference between the team merely playing meaningful games in September and the team actually making the postseason. If Castillo is a six-win kind of pitcher in 2019, and the trio of Sonny Gray, Alex Wood and Tanner Roark each perform in the roles they were brought in to fill, then the Reds’ playoff push becomes a very legitimate possibility. PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks have been baseball’s best first-inning team and they added to those numbers with Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run homer Wednesday night.The way Clay Buchholz has been pitching, it was more than enough.Goldschmidt homered to set the all-time mark at Chase Field, Buchholz pitched seven scoreless innings and the Diamondbacks earned a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.“It seems like every day. This team is pretty amazing when you look at the runs scored in the first inning,” Buchholz said.The Diamondbacks have a knack for jumping on teams early, leading the majors in first-inning runs with 109.Goldschmidt increased the total with his two-run shot off Odrisamer Despaigne (2-2), passing Luis Gonzalez with his 96th homer at Chase Field. Goldschmidt had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and has reached safely in 27 straight.Buchholz (7-2) yielded four hits and struck out seven with no walks for his eighth straight game of at least five innings and three runs or fewer allowed.David Peralta also hit a two-run shot to homer for the third straight game. The Diamondbacks have won six of seven to maintain a 1 1/2-game lead in the NL West over Colorado.“It all started with Clay tonight,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He goes out and gives us seven scoreless and really set the tone for us for the course of this game.”The injury-depleted Angels had five hits — two by Rene Rivera — and lost for the fifth time in six games.“I thought we had some pretty good looks at him (Buchholz), hit some balls hard , but he got in his rhythm and started to change some speeds midway through,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.Buchholz has been sharp the past two months, entering Wednesday’s game 5-1 with 2.00 ERA over seven starts, including his 10th career complete game against San Diego last Thursday. He kept the Angels off balance most of the night, allowing three singles and a double.Despaigne gave up five runs and seven hits in four innings against Texas on Friday in his second start since being acquired from Miami on Aug. 14 for cash. The right-hander served up Goldschmidt’s first-inning homer and a run-scoring single to Nick Ahmed in the fourth.Despaigne allowed three runs and five hits in four innings.“He made a couple of mistakes: One to Goldschmidt and the other one to Ahmed,” Rivera said. “Besides that he was OK. His pitch count was a little high but overall he did OK.”PUJOLS’ PLAYAngels 1B Albert Pujols made a spectacular play in the sixth inning to take a hit away from Steven Souza Jr. Souza hit a ball off the end of the bat down the line and Pujols made a diving stop, tossing the ball to pitcher Ty Buttrey as he was rolling over to get the out.PERALTA’S RUNPeralta has been one of the best hitters in baseball in August, going 21 for 51 with eight homers and 14 RBIs in his past 12 games. He has six homers in nine games and 25 on the season after going 2 for 4 against the Angels.“I keep saying it, he’s on his way to having a special year,” Lovullo said.TRAINER’S ROOMAngels: 2B David Fletcher was replaced by Kaleb Cowart in the fourth after fouling a pitch off his left knee in the top half. Scioscia said Fletcher is day-to-day with a bruise and hopes to have him back Friday against Houston.UP NEXTAngels: LHP Andrew Heaney is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two starts against the Astros going into Friday’s game.Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Godley is 4-0 with a 3.26 ERA over his last eight starts heading into Friday’s home game against Seattle.