No Rest for rookie Rusney Castillo
Rusney Castillo, the Boston Red Sox latest pickup made his Fenway debut Tuesday night in a 6-2 fall against AL East rivals the Tampa Bay Rays. The rookie went 0-4, fielding a few flyouts and lineouts allowing singles for Yunel Escobar, Evan Longoria, David DeJesus and James Loney.
On August 23 the Red Sox signed Castillo to a 7-year, $72.5 million contract, the largest ever rewarded to an international amateur. He then completed a three-week apprenticeship through the Sox farm system, receiving a call-up after going 19-for-41 (.293) with a .370 OBP and 5 BB’s.
After a week in the show, the highly anticipated Cuban outfielder is the defensive player the Sox had been looking for, but still giving the team minimal offensive support from the dish. According to Ben Badler of Baseball America, scouting reports labeled Castillo as a line-drive hitter, noting a swing that was too long for the majors (which is common among Cuban hitters).One scout said, “In BP he had some length in his swing, then in games he shortened up his stroke and we saw the line-drive swing that we saw in the past. But he is a lot more physical than what we saw in his Cuban national days.”
“Cuban hitters frequently have long swings because they don’t have to be quick and direct to the ball in Serie Nacional, where it’s rare to see anyone throwing 95 mph and most pitchers can’t even crack 90 mph. There’s more margin for error to gear up with some extra length in your swing when the pitcher is throwing 86 instead of 96.”
A debut week consisting of five games and a .200 BA is merely considered a stage of testing the waters for the 27-year-old. When the Red Sox signed Castillo he hadn’t played ball in nearly 14 months, so offensive support wasn’t necessarily expected of the rookie.
Ben Cherington intends to change that over the post season. Castillo will report to the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League, set to start their season October 7. Roughly three weeks after a season end on November 15, Castillo will move to Puerto Rico for winter ball.
Sox manager John Farrell said, “I would think, by the time 200 at-bats rolls around, you’re looking at maybe mid-November I would guess as a rough estimate calendar-wise.” By December Castillo should have closer to a full season’s worth of AB.
Following a short break, he will report to Spring Training, where hopefully the outfielder will stay on track to make an Opening Day start against the Phillies in 2015. “We just want to let him get comfortable and get acclimated,” Sox GM Ben Cherington said.
Hopefully after a period of non-stop ball, he will do just that.