Report: Rays, Braves have early interest in Castillo

At least two teams apparently want to make Welington Castillo's stay on the open market a very brief one.

The Tampa Bay Rays are expected to "aggressively" pursue Castillo, who became a free agent Friday night after being non-tendered by the Arizona Diamondbacks, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

They may have some competition for his services, however, as Topkin reported Saturday that Castillo has already fielded interest from several other teams in addition to the Rays. One of those teams may be the Atlanta Braves, who have "some interest" in the 29-year-old, reports David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Both the Braves and Rays have been eyeing changes behind the plate for the 2017 season. The Rays project to have backup types Curt Casali and Luke Maile share catching duties as their roster stands now, while Atlanta would like to improve their options beyond incumbent Tyler Flowers, waiver claim Tuffy Gosewisch, and recent signee Anthony Recker.

Tampa Bay and Atlanta have already battled each other for a catcher this winter, as both clubs reportedly pursued Jason Castro before he chose to sign in Minnesota.

Castillo, who Topkin reported was projected to earn $5.9 million in arbitration before being non-tendered, hit .264/.322/.423 with 14 homers in 113 games as Arizona's primary catcher. Considered to be average defensively, the Diamondbacks let him go after the team inked Jeff Mathis to a contract Friday.