I really like watching Starlin Castro play baseball. He oozes talent from his glove, arm, athleticism and swing. Castro is going to lead the Cubs to a World Series before he retires. At 21, Castro still has a ton to learn but we need to take a moment to understand just how good he has been. Castro sported a .300/.347/.408 line last year in 125 games as a 20 year old. He finished fifth in the ROY voting and has only gotten better. I know Cubs fans can get frustrated with him, especially during his 3 error inning a few nights ago but, if you are patient, a superstar will come.
Starlin is on a tear early this year. He’s hitting .350 with the fourth most hits in the Majors (Andre Ethier and his hit streak lead the league). Starlin does not walk much but, he leads the league in strikeout percentage. He strikes out in a stunningly low 4.9% of the time. Throw in the fact that he has a .360 BABIP (league avg is around .270) and you begin to appreciate the ride he is on. Typically with a .360 BABIP those in the sabermetrics community wave a red flag and call for a regression in average. The argument here is that some batted balls in play will get caught more going forward and his stat line over a full year will regress to the mean. I’m sure this will happen a but with Castro but, given the authority with which he hits the baseball, don’t expect his BABIP or standard average to fall too far. For the record, his BABIP was .342 in 125 games last year. I look for his power to emerge as he matures (He’s 21! Born in 1990!). There’s no reason to believe this guy can’t be a 30 home run hitter at some point in his career playing at Wrigley and I expect him to continue to steal a fair share of bases. We’re looking at the next star at shortstop here.
At 21, shortstop is a tremendously difficult position to play at the Big League level. Remember Derek Jeter’s 22 errors as a 21 year old shortstop? The defense will come. The leadership will come. His teammates will turn to him as his production and defense make it impossible for them to take their eyes off of him. Castro has the makeup to handle all of this and by all accounts is a nice, smiling, quiet guy in the clubhouse. I’m not at all worried about Castro’s eventual place annually in the All-Star game but, I am worried about something else.
Why is nobody talking about this guy? He hit .300 as a 20 year old shortstop last year. Derek Jeter, Hanley Ramirez, and Troy Tulowitzki were all still in the minors at age 20 and none made major contributions until their age 22 season. The baseball world should be in love with him but they are not. Instead, the media has chosen to glorify his fellow rookies from 2010 (for good reason) Buster Posey and Jason Heyward. The thing is, Castro’s not an ugly guy. The guys on the North Side know that Castro will be special for a long time, so why haven’t they slapped his picture on anything related to the Cubs? I’m voting for Starlin’s face on hats for next weeks games against the Reds. That is the only way he can the attention he deserves. Apparently hitting .350 doesn’t get you attention anymore, sorry Starlin.
I don’t expect him to supplant Tulo or Hanley anytime soon but his name will belong in the conversation for best shortstop in the game before Obama’s tenure as President is up. If Pujols winds up on the North Side, a lineup with those two over the next 10 years doesn’t bode well for Cubs opponents.
Stat of the Day: A-Rod’s contract extensions from the Mariners: turned down a 1998 extension offer of 7y, $63m to start in 2001. Later, turning down eight years, $117.5m starting in 2000. He eventually signed 10-year, $252 million. The whole article is here.
-Sean Morash
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