Rusney Castillo set for minor league debut

In what has been a rather depressing season in Boston, the Red Sox will soon be unveiling their new shiny toy: Rusney Castillo.

A decision was made to push back Castillo’s minor league debut by a day. Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald tells us a bit about the delay.

"The Sox discussed having Castillo play in Game 1 today in Tampa, not far from where the big league team is facing the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend and close enough for manager John Farrell and the coaching staff to attend.Instead, though, they decided to keep the 27-year-old in Fort Myers, where the Red Sox will host Game 2 and where Castillo has spent most of the week since obtaining his work visa from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services."

The extra time also gave Castillo yet another opportunity to work out. Since Castillo hasn’t played in about a year and a half, the more work he gets in, the better. Lauber also notes that Castillo should make his MLB debut later this season.

I find it compelling that in prior workouts, the organization had Castillo playing center field. In the grand scheme of things, what this for Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Mookie Betts and any other names that have manned the position this season remains an intriguing side note to the Castillo signing.

This season, Red Sox center fielders have scored the third least number of runs (59) when compared to other AL squads. Their combined slashline of .209/.290/.299 ranks as one of the worst in the American League. The BoSox CFers are last in batting average and slugging and third to worst in OBP.

Granted, Boston’s center fielders are not atop the order this season as was the case last season when Jacoby Ellsbury was in Beantown. Maybe a jolt from Castillo, who fellow Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes noted is comparable to Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig in talent, can set a tone for 2015 in an otherwise bustful 2014 season.