Not only was Jesus Castro our Pitcher of the Year at Lake Elsinore this season, he took system honors as well.
At only 19, Castro made the rare, massive leap from the Dominican Summer League directly to the full-season ball in Lake Elsinore, where he was, on average, three years younger than his competition.
Jesus Castro had a lot to celebrate this season. (Photo: Lexi Brintle/Lake Elsinore Storm)
“In the words of Jeff Andrews, one of our pitching coordinators … to promote someone like Jesus, throwing strikes cannot be an issue. And they are not with him,” said Padres’ assistant director of player development Mike Daly.
“He had a six percent walk rate in the DSL, and that gave us confidence that he could pitch in Lake Elsinore. We think it worked out.”
After the diminutive righty posted a 5.14 ERA in April, he rebounded in May with a 2.33 ERA in 19.1 innings. By the end of July, which he capped with seven innings of one-hit ball on the road, he had lowered his ERA to 3.31 with 77 strikeouts and only 25 walks through 70.2 innings. Well beyond his 2025 workload, Castro struggled through a tough August, when his ERA was 9.20. However, he bounced back well to give the Storm 10.2 strong innings in the playoffs.
Including his postseason showing, Castro delivered a 4.01 ERA across 101 innings. He did it by posting an impressive 25.4% strikeout rate with a remarkable feel for the strike zone for a pitcher with so little experience. He features a three-pitch mix built off a four-seam fastball with outlier horizontal run, a changeup, and a developing curve.
“He was also throwing a slider, but we thought the curve would work best if he focused on it and that pitch really came along,” said Daly. “He had close to 14 inches of break with it on average going left and about 15 inches of break on his changeup going right; so that did work out.
Jesus Castro delivered in the clutch for Lake Elsinore. (Photo: Robert Escalante)
“His average fastball this year was 92.2, which was an improvement from 91.4 the year before.”
The Padres signed the right-hander to a minor league contract in January 2025 for only $10,000, after he briefly spent some time with the Diablos Rojos del Mexico in the Mexican League. San Diego has actively scouted Mexico in recent years, signing players such as Brandon Valenzuela, Tirso Ornelas, and Rosman Verdugo, among others.
That also includes Jesus Castro’s older brother, Manuel.
Even shorter than Jesus, Manuel opened his sixth season in the organization with San Antonio before he hit the IL and missed the rest of the season.
Jesus Castro had a breakout year. (Photo: Lexi Brintle/Lake Elsinore Storm)
“It’s fun to have them both in the organization,” said Daly. “They have a great, friendly competition that you would expect from two brothers.”
Last season in the DSL, he was impressive, giving up only 10 walks in 43.1 innings with 46 strikeouts under manager Brallan Perez, who also managed him in Lake Elsinore in 2026. This season with the Storm, Jesus Castro punched out 100 hitters on 31 walks and allowed only three home runs. The 6-foot, 160-pound Guasave, Mexico native should fill out more, and the organization expects his velocity to increase.
This season, Castro’s key was his ability, as Daly noted, to consistently throw strikes with all three pitches, with elite break and velocity separation.
The young right-hander from Guasave, Mexico, should begin 2027 in High-A with the Fort Wayne TinCaps. As we noted in our Pitcher of the Year article for the Storm, it remains an open question how well his changeup-heavy approach and a fastball that relies more on deception than velocity will play against more advanced hitters.
But in 2026, his approach of keeping the ball down and moving with three pitches worked very well.