New Athletics GM Castro discusses his philosophy, vision for future

LAS VEGAS -- New Athletics general manager Cam Castro touched on a multitude of topics during his introductory press conference last week.

Here are some more highlights from Castro’s presser:

What led to the transition from pitching coach/coordinator in the Brewers’ organization to working in the front office?

Castro: Transitioning to the front office was something I probably never really prepared for. I coached early on, frankly, because I don’t think I wanted to get a real job after college. I found myself with a couple of early opportunities that were really rewarding, personally, coaching even at the small college level.

When I had the chance to join the Brewers in 2019, it was a no-brainer for a lot of reasons. But it was also something I hadn’t really prepared for or planned on. The front-office transition after 2023, it was just a unique opportunity, a lot like this [GM job], that you don’t necessarily plan for. You listen, you take time to understand the opportunity and the people, and then you dive in. That’s what I did.

On the front office’s philosophy and vision he hopes to bring to the A’s.

Castro: In terms of player development and in terms of performance, we will work tirelessly here to develop players who have the physical skills necessary to be successful at the next level, but also have the baseball IQ and the understanding of the game it’ll take to really contribute to and create Major League wins once they get there. Our goal is to do both those things better than the rest of the industry, and to make sure that the great work done here reaches the field and our players to create Major League wins regularly for this franchise.

We’re also going to prioritize people. Without people, none of this matters. It’s the people who impact our players every single day. We’re going to hire some of the very best people in their field. We’re going to give them great information, great resources, guidance and then just turn them loose to develop a player development system that our organization can depend on.

What are your initial impressions of the current A’s roster and overall talent within the organization?

Castro: Real talent. I’m certainly getting up to speed on all that. … I’m working hard with [president of baseball operations] Taylor [Smith] and the rest of the baseball ops group to understand that and continue to dive in. But there’s real talent. Frankly, that was a part of the decision as well and made this even easier.

On the increased utilization of analytics in baseball and how the A’s plan to approach that.

Castro: Baseball has always used information. The information has just changed over the years. We’ve been able to access more of it, but it’s always existed. The other thing that has always existed is that it has to reach the field. It has to reach the player, and the player has to be able to do something with it. We have to support the player in that process with good coaching and good relationships. Understanding how they learn and how they process any sort of information. My take on this is -- pitch design is not new. It has existed ever since two guys played catch together and asked, “Hey, did that move any?” We just have a better ability to answer that now..

How does previous experience as a coach help in this new role as a GM?

Castro: I don’t know if you’re ever really ready for the next job until you get it and live it and experience it. I probably was not ready to go be a professional pitching coach, let alone go be a pitching coordinator, after that. But you learn. You listen, you ask questions and figure it out. You have things you think are important that you’d like to install. But ultimately, you learn that you have to lean on the people around you. I was able to do that in a couple of different roles in Milwaukee, and I look forward to doing the same thing here.