Jun 25, 2021 4 min read

David DeCastro’s release on Thursday came as a surprise – sort of.

After all, DeCastro hadn’t attended any of the Steelers’ OTA sessions, not that it made him stand out in any way. A lot of the team’s veteran players weren’t there – told they didn’t need to be there.

But when he was at the first day of minicamp last week in street clothes and then missing the next two days, it did set off some alarms.

Those alarms became a full-blown situation when DeCastro was released Thursday and longtime Carolina Panthers’ guard Trai Turner was signed to take his place.

DeCastro was released with a non-football injury designation, which means the Steelers believe his injury – an ankle that requires what will be a third surgery – occurred off the football field.

They moved on from DeCastro – at a cap savings of $8.75 million – because they weren’t sure he was going to be able to play football this season.

Given his age and injury history, he very well might have played his last football.

That’s a shame. DeCastro, with three All-Pro nods and six Pro Bowls under his belt, might be the second-best guard to play for the Steelers behind Alan Faneca.

• The NFL was forced to decline the Steelers’ proposal to return their training camp to Saint Vincent College this season not because of anything involving the Steelers.

According to sources, the state of Pennsylvania had an issue with the Steelers’ plan to return to Saint Vincent College. And that caused the NFL to deny the team’s request.

The biggest issue was the lack of locker room facilities. Apparently, players can lean on each other for several hours per day. But once they leave the football field, they have to socially distance from each other.

COVID-19 apparently doesn’t spread on grass.

Oh, and by the way, the Steelers have achieved 85 percent vaccinations for their players, making them one of just three teams to do so.

Again, Gov. Tom Wolf and his administration just don’t seem to live in reality.

• But hey, fans will be permitted to be at Heinz Field at full capacity in August, so at least they have that.
• The Pirates will surely get calls regarding every player on their roster at the trade deadline.

And to be honest, there aren’t a lot of players who are untouchable. Ke’Bryan Hayes comes to mind. Bryan Reynolds does, too.

The Pirates tried to sign Hayes to a long-term contract in the offseason this year to no avail. At this point, they should also try to do the same with Reynolds.

Yes, he’s 26 – a little older than someone you might look to lock up long-term. But having Reynolds around for another four or five years would send a message to the rest of that locker room.

Reynolds is a building block.

Adam Frazier is having a great season, as well. But he’s already 29. If the Pirates can trade him for a nice group of prospects, they should.

• The 2021 Washington County Pony World Series team has been selected after a tryout that included a record 31 players.

This year’s team includes players from six different school districts – Washington, Trinity, Canon-McMillan, McGuffey, Chartiers-Houston and Bentworth.

• Most people will tell you they’re all for keeping cheating out of sports, but Major League Baseball might be taking things a bit too far with its crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances on balls.

Earlier this week, the Phillies asked three times in four innings for Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer to be checked.

The game was stopped and the umpires performed a search of Scherzer, failing to come up with anything.

Were the fans in attendance or at home best served – i.e. entertained – by having the game stopped three times to check the pitcher?

Teams should get one check and use them wisely.

• Former Waynesburg University and Bethel Park right-handed pitcher Mason Miller is currently ranked as the 159th-best prospect in this year’s Major League Baseball draft.

Miller transferred to Gardner-Webb for a fifth season this year and posted an 8-1 record with 121 strikeouts in 92 2/3 innings.

He’s a bit older than some of the other prospects in this year’s draft, but with a fastball that touches 99 mph, you can bet Miller will be selected at some point in the upcoming draft.