Jun. 29—NAPPANEE — Thomas Castillo has turned in his red-and-white Goshen uniform for another red-and-white one: the Elkhart County Miracle’s.
A few weeks after his prep baseball career ended, Castillo joined the Miracle, a semi-professional minor league team that’s in its first season competing in the Northern League. Castillo made his official debut for Elkhart County June 11, and it proved to be an eventful one.
In a game against the Southland Vikings, Castillo was the starting pitcher for the Miracle, going eight innings. He threw 130 pitches in that span, the most he’s ever had in a single game. He gave up eight total runs (five earned) in a 12-7 loss, but gained valuable experience with how much he pitched in the contest.
“My arm felt tired the next day, but I obviously did my recovery routine after the game,” Castillo said.
Castillo has made three other pitching performances since then, all in relief. He’s earned two wins in them, going four shutout innings to help the Miracle win an 11-inning thriller, 3-2, over the Indiana Panthers June 14. He then pitched 3 1/3rd innings of relief June 22 against the Griffith Generals, a game that saw the Miracle score five runs in the sixth inning and six more in the eighth to win, 14-7.
That June 22 game proved to be Castillo’s best hitting performance in his nine game appearances so far as well. He went 4-for-6 at the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored.
For the season, Castillo has 13 hits across 30 at-bats, good for a .433 average. He has seven runs scored, five RBIs, four walks drawn and has stolen two bases.
“I’m just hoping to get more reps,” said Castillo of his main goal playing for the Miracle. “Guys are throwing harder and throwing nastier pitches, so I’m seeing more pitches. It’s really good for me, and getting more reps on the field is good for me as well.”
Another Goshen High School alum, 2020 graduate Tommy Cartagena-Garcia, was instrumental in getting Castillo on the Miracle roster. Cartagena-Garcia has been part of the team since the start of the season.
“It all happened because of Tommy,” Castillo said. “Tommy texted me one day and was like, ‘Would you like to play on the Miracle team?’ And, I had to talk to my dad about it first because I wasn’t sure if he’d be OK with it. But he was OK with it, so I was down to play.”
Castillo admitted there were some growing pains involved with joining a team that had already been playing together for a few weeks.
“At first, it was kind of weird because I didn’t really know any of the guys,” Castillo said. “As the new guy, I had to make friends. It was just weird for me, but I got used to it. I started making friends, and now I’m cool with every guy on the team.”
Castillo primarily played shortstop at Goshen when he wasn’t pitching. With the Miracle, though, Castillo has moved around the infield more, seeing reps at third base and second base.
“I can play every infield position, so it doesn’t really matter to me where I play,” Castillo said. “I know the guy that plays shortstop (Dawson Willis) is better, so I’ll play third. I’ll play second, too, because it saves my arm a little bit.”
Willis, who plays at LSU-Eunice in Louisiana, is seventh in the Northern League in batting average among qualified batters with a .313 mark. Being able to play alongside Willis has helped Castillo.
“The guy’s a dog,” said Castillo of Willis. “I talk to him a lot, and he helps me a lot.”
Castillo put himself into the Goshen baseball record books during his career. Despite not having a freshman season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Castillo still finished with a career-best 86 stolen bases. He finished with a .324 batting average, reaching base in nearly half of his plate appearances (.486 OBP) while adding 38 RBIs and 73 runs scored.
On the pitching mound, Castillo compiled an 11-8 career record with a 2.39 ERA and 117 strikeouts.
Team success also came for the RedHawks during Castillo’s career, as he was one of the catalysts for a team that earned a share of the Northern Lakes Conference title in 2022. He also pitched a complete game in the sectional semifinals this past May, advancing Goshen to its first sectional title game appearance since 2009.
“It was just fun being around the guys,” said Castillo of his Goshen career. “Just having fun was one of my main points. … Getting the conference championship, that was really cool. I’ll never forget that one, especially because I did it with my cousin. That will go down in the history books for sure.”
Castillo’s career will extend into college, as he will be joining the University of St. Francis team in Fort Wayne later this fall. The Cougars went 29-25 this past spring and played in the Crossroads League.
Castillo plans on studying accounting at USF.
“One day in the summer going into my senior year, coach (Dustin Butcher) was texting me on Twitter,” Castillo recalled. “I gave him my number, and then we called. We chatted for a little bit, and then he asked me to come on a visit.
“When I got on campus, I just knew it was my home. Everything was so cool. It just felt like home when I got there. All the facilities are pretty nice, but it’s the school that really got me. The school is so beautiful. It’s home, for sure.”
Austin Hough can be reached at [email protected] or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.