Juan Castro

Note: This page is for 1990s infielder Juan Castro. For the former Cuban national team player, click here.

Juan Gabriel Castro

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 165 lb.

• Debut September 2, 1995
• Final Game June 4, 2011
• Born June 20, 1972 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa Mexico

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Biographical Information

Infielder Juan Castro saw action in seventeen consecutive big league seasons, only appearing in more than 100 games three times. Not much with the bat (a .229/.266/.327 line in 1,103 games), he did much of his damage as a versatile glove man with the Cincinnati Reds, covering their entire infield from 2000 to 2004 with brief time again from 2006 to 2008. Castro completed his playing career in 2011 in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. One notable play came in May 2010 when Castro caught a ground ball to his left, spun and threw the ball to Ryan Howard at first base to finish Roy Halladay's perfect game.

Immediately after retiring in July 2011, the Dodgers named him a Special Assistant to Baseball Operations & Player Personnel. He continued in this role through the 2013 season. In 2014-2015 Castro served as the Dodgers' Minor League Infield Coordinator. The Dodgers promoted him to the major league staff in 2016 as their Quality Assurance Coach, a position he repeated in 2017.

After the 2017 season, Castro joined the Toros de Tijuana in the Mexican League as Director of Operations. The team owner fired him from this position, but then brought him back as a coach. In the end, Castro left the team and returned home.[1] Castro joined the Philadelphia Phillies organization in 2019 as their Minor League Infield Coordinator. He spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the Phillies' Major League Infield Coordinator. The Phillies fired Castro just before the 2021 season concluded, which also served to end his work with major league organizations.

Besides his work in the United States, Castro has considerable experience coaching and managing in Mexico. He started as manager of the Águilas de Mexicali during the 2012/2013 Mexican Pacific League season, but was fired on November 8th. Eight days later, he was named the new manager of the Yaquis de Obregón. Castro returned as manager of Mexicali for the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons. Mexicali came calling once again in 2018 when he managed the team for the entire month of November before being cashiered. Castro was the second of three managers that season.

Castro also worked with the Mexican national team. He led the team to a third-place finish in the 2019 Premier 12, beating Team USA in the 3rd/4th place game for a spot in the 2020 Olympics. However, Castro was surprisingly let go prior to the Olympics themselves due to a dispute with team officials about unpaid fees and Benji Gil replaced him.

His next foray into the winter leagues came on November 9, 2021 when he was named manager of the Naranjeros de Hermosillo. This venture proved to me much more durable as Castro remained the manager through the 2024/2025 season. During this period he also picked up some summer work as manager of the Diablos Rojos del México in 2022. He returned to the Red Devils in 2023, but was fired on May 7th after the team started with a 6-9 record.

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