Part II of this series is here: [link].
Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Jose Castillo turns 26 in May and he has so far played the equivalent of 2.3 MLB years (368 games divided by 162). The Pirates signed him in 1997 as an undrafted free agent (at age 16 or 17) and he started his professional career at low-A Hickory in 2000 as a 19 year old.
After finishing his first AA season at age 22, Castillo was promoted to Pittsburgh in 2004 as the starting second baseman. That was quite a jump for the young man considering he only had 389 professional games of development in the Pirates farm system.
As the 2007 season approaches, one local sports writer recently proclaimed that Castillo is "among the worst" at fielding ground balls, that it was his fault that fewer double plays were turned by the Pirates in 2007, and Castillo needs to hit better [link].
Another Pirates beat writer openly declared that "Castillo and Bautista are dueling for the lone vacancy among starting position players" [link].
Worst of all the recent outbursts about Castillo was fellow teammate Jack Wilson who has "criticized Castillo’s physical conditioning, work ethic and mental preparation, going so far as to call Castillo’s approach to some defensive plays "lazy"’ [link].
Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski is often thought of as the best second baseman ever to put on a Pirates uniform. Did you know that in Maz’s first 377 games, his career fielding percentage was .979? [link] Castillo has played 368 games so far and has a career .977 fielding percentage. That .002 difference between Maz and Castillo is the equivalent of 1 error, or 13 more assists or putouts, per year.
That’s it.
Another second baseman stat heads love to compare players to is Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg. Sandberg won a Gold Glove nine consecutive years from 1983 – 1991 [link].
When we compare Castillo to Mazeroski and Sandberg in double plays obtained per 162 games played thru age 25, Castillo is 7 per year short of Maz, and has averaged 11 more per year than Sandberg.
Remember above where one of the local writer’s had questioned Castillo’s ability to turn a double play?
That remark now seems non-sensible when you consider how well Castillo has done on the pivot compared to two Hall of Famer’s by age at the position, doesn’t it?
And it’s not just turning double plays Castillo has done comparatively well in either. When you take the number of games each player played through age 25 at second base, and then divide that by 162 to get the number of years experience each player had the position, Castillo has averaged 18 errors per year to Maz’s 17.
That’s not too shabby, if you ask me. Especially when you consider Maz saw 67% more total chances through age 25 and was, therefore, significantly more experienced than Castillo. For those that want to know, Sandberg had 11 errors per year average through age 25.
Putout and assist comparisons are worthless because of the type of pitching staffs each player had. But for a general look, Castillo has had more putouts per year on average than Sandberg despite 266 less total chances per year average, but fewer putouts and total chances than Maz. As for assists, Castillo had fewer than both players.
Let’s face it, for a 25 year old player who has 2.3 years experience, Castillo has more than held his own defensively when stacked against two of the best that have ever played the game.
Then there is the above comment about Castillo needing to hit better. Obviously Maz and Sandberg were different type of hitters though age 25 than Castillo has been, but still, Castillo has held his own ground as you can see from these wonderful abbreviated charts I obtained from Fangraphs.com:
There’s no doubt Castillo has struck out more than the other two players but, believe it or not, Castillo actually walked more than Maz in two of the first three seasons he has played [link].
Sandberg broke out offensively at age 25 in his fourth season. On the other hand, Maz was never a real offensive threat until October 13, 1960. While Castillo will be entering his fourth MLB season in 2007, his experience at the major league level – based on the number of games played overall – is just 58% of Sandberg’s and 38% of Mazeroski at the same age.
I don’t know about you, but I’m tickled to death about Jose Castillo. I always have been, and I always will be, as long as he continues to improve. Don’t forget he ended the 2005 season with a torn MCL in his knee and we don’t really know how much that set him back in 2006. I suspect it was a lot. There is no question that Castillo has areas he can improve on, but the fact remains, he is nearly identical to Maz in every way through his first few years.
The last comment made above about Castillo having to battle for a starting position this year is simply ludicrous when you consider the big picture. Freddy Sanchez, while a decent defender himself at second, is no Jose Castillo on the pivot. Nor will he ever be as good overall at the position, I suspect. And Jose Bautista is a horrific defender at third, and he would be the one essentially replacing Castillo.
No brainer – Jose Castillo remains our starting second baseman. And for all you fans out there who whine and complain about Jose Castillo wanting to bench or release him, I wonder if you would have wanted to bench Maz after his first 377 games?
I suspect you would have.
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While I don’t want to detract in the least in your unbiased look at Castillo, I think it may be safe to say that in MAz’s day, official scorers would dole out E’s on plays that today are called hits.
I do think there is a large gap between how Castillo has performed vs how he is capable of performing. And I also think that the club feels that it has been due, in large part, to things within Jose’s control.