This article is part of our John Sickels' Column series.
One year ago, Cubs shortstop prospect Starlin Castro was known only to Cubs fanatics and deep prospect watchers. Move forward a year, and he's one of the elite talents of the minor leagues, considered a star of the near future in Chicago. Who is this guy, where did he come from, and what kind of player can he be? Let's find out.
BACKGROUND
Castro was signed by the Cubs out of the Dominican Republic in 2006. Scrawny and underweight, he drew interest because of his athleticism, speed, and arm strength. He got a respectable $50,000 bonus, but wasn't one of the highest-profile talents on the international stage that year. He began his pro career with the Dominican Summer League Cubs in 2007, hitting well with a .299/.371/.371 mark with 13 steals and showing decent strike zone judgment. Promoted to North America in 2008, he debuted with a .311/.364/.464 mark in the Arizona Rookie League, and began to draw the notice of scouts and writers.
The Cubs had too many infielders at the Low-A level to begin 2009, but felt that Castro might be able to handle a jump to High-A without being overwhelmed. He responded to the challenge with a .302/.340/.391 mark with 22 steals for Daytona in the Florida State League in 96 games. Impressed, they promoted him to Double-A for the August stretch run, and he held his own with a .288/.347/.396 mark for Tennessee. The Cubs challenged him with an assignment to the Arizona Fall League, where
One year ago, Cubs shortstop prospect Starlin Castro was known only to Cubs fanatics and deep prospect watchers. Move forward a year, and he's one of the elite talents of the minor leagues, considered a star of the near future in Chicago. Who is this guy, where did he come from, and what kind of player can he be? Let's find out.
BACKGROUND
Castro was signed by the Cubs out of the Dominican Republic in 2006. Scrawny and underweight, he drew interest because of his athleticism, speed, and arm strength. He got a respectable $50,000 bonus, but wasn't one of the highest-profile talents on the international stage that year. He began his pro career with the Dominican Summer League Cubs in 2007, hitting well with a .299/.371/.371 mark with 13 steals and showing decent strike zone judgment. Promoted to North America in 2008, he debuted with a .311/.364/.464 mark in the Arizona Rookie League, and began to draw the notice of scouts and writers.
The Cubs had too many infielders at the Low-A level to begin 2009, but felt that Castro might be able to handle a jump to High-A without being overwhelmed. He responded to the challenge with a .302/.340/.391 mark with 22 steals for Daytona in the Florida State League in 96 games. Impressed, they promoted him to Double-A for the August stretch run, and he held his own with a .288/.347/.396 mark for Tennessee. The Cubs challenged him with an assignment to the Arizona Fall League, where he put up a shocking .376/.396/.475 mark against older competition. He looked great in major league spring training this year, hitting .423/.444/.692, but is beginning 2010 back with Tennessee. He's off to an excellent start, hitting .370/.388/.543 in his first 10 games.
TRADITIONAL SCOUTING REPORT
Castro is a right-handed hitter and thrower, born March 24, 1990. Originally listed at 6-feet, 160 pounds, he's grown over the last year and now checks in at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, with more growth possible given that he's just 20 years old.. Although not huge, he's wiry-strong and has more strength and power than you might expect given his listed size.
Offensively, Castro has good bat speed and quick wrists. He hits mostly line drives at this point, but scouts believe he could hit 10-15 home runs per season as he matures. He should be good for plenty of doubles and triples. Although he isn't a walk machine, he will make an effort to work counts and is not a wild hacker: he makes solid contact and can make adjustments at the plate. He catches up with most fastballs and handles breaking stuff and changeups very well for his age.
Defensively, Castro has the range, hands, arm strength, and instincts to be a major league shortstop for a long time. He gets to balls that most shortstops can't reach. On the other hand, like most young infielders he is rather error-prone, especially on routine plays, and needs to get more reliable. He made 39 errors last year, but scouts are certain that with more playing time his miscue total will come down. There's nothing wrong with his defensive mechanics or his aptitude: he just needs more repetitions. He has enough speed to steal 25-30 bases annually, though he still needs work with the finer points of theft technique.
Coaches and scouts praise Castro's work ethic and makeup. At this point, he basically just needs more experience to blossom further in all phases of the game.
SABERMETRIC ASSESSMENT
Castro is a career .306/.352/.425 hitter in North America in 187 games, with 136 of those contests occurring against older competition. Double-A hasn't been a huge challenge for him yet, with a .307/.360/.429 mark in 40 games. Granted, the sample size in Double-A is small, but given his age at that level (19-20) and his performance in the Arizona Fall League, there's every reason to be optimistic about him. He's also stolen 10 bases in 11 attempts in Double-A.
It seems that almost every young Latin American shortstop gets compared to Edgar Renteria, but there are definite parallels. Castro is similar to a young Renteria: wiry-strong, fast, with a very good-but-error-prone glove that just needs more experience to polish up. Castro is also comparable to Rangers sophomore shortstop Elvis Andrus, though he's a bit bigger physically and might have more power potential. Renteria eventually developed some home-run power (hitting double-digit home runs every year from 1999 through 2008) to go with his speed, and it would be no surprise to see Castro develop along similar lines.
FANTASY INVESTMENT VALUE
Castro is currently in Double-A, but if he continues to play well there, he'll likely move up to Triple-A Iowa, perhaps as early as late May. Cubs manager Lou Piniella was full of praise for Castro in spring training. Although he could use some additional minor league time to polish up his defensive reliability, Castro will certainly reach the majors sooner than even optimists would have assumed a year ago.
Like all young players, Castro may take some time to adjust, but in the long run he has everything you look for in a young shortstop: hitting ability, speed, some power potential, the glove to stick at the position, and the backing of the organization. He's an excellent investment if you have a medium-term and long-term window.
Article first appeared 4/20/10
