Watching San Diego Padres starting pitching prospect Simon Castro pitch for the (Triple-A) Tucson Padres on Wednesday, I saw the same potential from him that I have in the past, but also the same inconsistencies.

The 6-foot-5 right-hander, who turned 23 a couple of weeks ago, has drawn comparisons to both Orlando Hernandez and Jose Contreras because of his delivery, but both of those players were/are really in tune with their deliveries and had/have it down to a science. Castro isn't quite there yet; he has problems repeating it, which leads to those inconsistencies.Castro's fastball sat mostly in the 91-92 mph range with sink, touching 94 when he was throwing it up in the zone. His slider ranged from 82-85 mph, and though it had some late three-quarters tilt that can miss bats, he had problems commanding it. One positive I took from the outing was that his changeup had improved since the last time I saw him; it sat in the 84 mph range and had some sink and fade. He seemed to have more confidence in it, too, going to the pitch early in the game against left-handed hitters.The arsenal is there to have success as a starter in the big leagues, especially given the strides he has made with his changeup, but he still struggles to locate his fastball. He has to back off a bit to do so, and at times he seems as if he's fighting his mechanics, trying to aim the ball instead of letting it go. Again, the buzzword is consistency. He's finding out that not as many upper-level hitters get thrown off by his delivery, and that he must be more precise in spotting his fastball.Castro still has some work to do before we see him in the big leagues. Still, when he does get promoted, Castro will have a good park and a good defense behind him, which can cover up some of his mistakes and inconsistencies. That makes him a player to monitor if you're scrambling for starting pitching depth in an NL-only league.

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