The World Series champion Milwaukee Brewers are littered with intriguing young players, from flamboyant pitcher Jacob Misiorowski to all-star Jackson Chourio. It was only a matter of time before another member of the Brewer’s baseball club became involved, especially one who had a hand in the rise of those blossoming stars.
The Milwaukee Athletics are hiring senior vice president of player development and performance Cam Castro as their general manager under new president of baseball operations Taylor Smith, athletic writer Ken Rosenthal reported Wednesday.
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Castro, who reportedly has a lot of experience in pitching development, will join an athletic franchise that finished second-to-last campaign in ERA in 2026 and is currently in transition. Not only is the A’s playing in West Sacramento, California before their move to Las Vegas before the 2028 season — but you’re also among the front-office builders.
Last month, the Athletics signed Smith, who at age 31 is the youngest head of baseball in MLB. Smith spent the past two seasons as an assistant GM for the Boston Red Sox. He was previously with the Tampa Bay Rays for seven seasons.
The latest in an increasingly long line of former Rays executives to lead the big league front office, Smith is dealing with the R’s to return to fitness after the organization and longtime GM David Forst “partially agreed their ways in August.”
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Forst replaced Billy Beane as the A’s GM in 2015 and became the top decision maker in November 2015. The vacancy was filled this summer by assistant GM Dan Feinstein, who dropped the opportunity to the stretch in the interim.
But when Castle began to stay with the Brewers in 2019 as one of their pitching coaches, he climbed the normal ladder. The following year he was promoted to minor-league coordinator, according to The Athletic, who also jumps into the next in his chronicle: first he was promoted to director of development, then he won the role of president.
He will join Smith, a stats guru who at one point was the director of the Rays’ predictive model. While with the Red Sox, Smith was responsible for the organization’s baseball research and development efforts and spearheaded collaboration with other organizations, including those in charge of player acquisition and development.
The Athletics have not made the playoffs since the covid-19-shortened 2020 season. They have won fewer than 70 games in four of the past five years. The low point in that span was in 2023 when they finished with a 50-112 record, the franchise’s worst record since the 1919 Philadelphia A’s went 36-104.
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They are coming off a 64-98 season that has gone into a tailspin. A 38-38 start, offering promise behind a strong young core that includes designated hitter Brent Rooker, shortstop Jacob Wilson, catcher Shea Langeliers and first baseman Nick Kurtz.
But a multitude of injuries, along with the team’s struggles, led to a complete collapse, even in the weak AL West.