12:42PM: Castro went on the restricted list because he is “dealing with a family matter which requires his immediate attention,” a source tells Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post.
11:23AM: The Nationals announced that infielder Starlin Castro has been placed on the restricted list. Infielder Luis Garcia has been called up from Triple-A to take Castro’s spot on the 26-man roster.
No further details were released about Castro’s situation, though he didn’t play in last night’s game against the Pirates. After his debut season with the Nats in 2020 was cut short by a broken wrist, Castro has struggled to a .239/.287/.312 slash line over 254 plate appearances this season. Castro’s .266 wOBA is one of the lowest in the league and his .296 xwOBA isn’t much better, as the veteran isn’t making much hard contact whatsoever.
Castro has played almost every inning at third base for Washington this season, so depending on how long he is absent, the Nats will have a major hole to fill in their lineup. Jordy Mercer, Josh Harrison, or Garcia could all get some playing time at the hot corner while Castro is gone. Garcia hasn’t hit much over 152 career PA in the big leagues, but the former top-100 prospect has been swinging the bat well at Triple-A Rochester this season, hitting .270/.336/.478 with seven homers in 128 PA.
oh?
It seems Castro’s roster spot is convertible.
Nice…not sure the young’uns on here will get the reference but very well played
Maybe if they sleep on it…
First to conquer living space
Time for him to hang em up
harsh much? he turned 31 in March.
Seems like he has been around 20 years!
Imagine that. Only so many balls can sneak through the third baseman and SS. Never knew how to take a walk.
Castro was once on pace to 3,000 hits and had a great shot at it, if he stays healthy and picks it up for another 5-7 years still a shot. Not going to see too many people after Miggy chasing that down for a long time ,especially in today’s game.
Think 7x 150 would be max, about 1000 hits left in him if everything were to go right for him.
The problem with Castro is that the Cubs messed with him too much.
When Castro made it to the bigs, he was rushed and skipped AAA, that happened shortly after turning 20 years old, so he barely played in the minors and didn’t get to learn fundamentals.
He was an aggressive contact hitter that spread line drives all over the field and had enough speed to steal 20 bases and hit 5 triples or more with amazing range at SS and smooth actions… But needed a lot of polish.
The Cubs tried to make him more patient at the plate and that didn’t work for Castro, then they had him try to shoot everything to RF in order to walk more… And he had a horrible season. Finally, they had him bulk up and try to hit for power and his batting average suffered, therefore so did his obp and he lost that range at SS, coupled with mental lapses on the field.
Best thing that happened to him was to go to the Yankees where the expectations were lower and he had a defined role.
Trout says “hold my beer”.
Obviously the wrist is what’s brought down Castro’s production. Harrison has been decent. He’s finally figured to take a walk once in awhile. Castro is making 7million. If he doesn’t heat up upon his return looks like the Nats aren’t getting anything for him in August. Expect Arizona to start dealing.
I don’t get it. Castro is having a horrible year according to the article but the Nats have a major whole to fill if he’s out for an extended period of time? How does that work?
Maybe,dad is back, to try take more of his earnings.
There is a cool sidsnote here. Castro was the first MLB player born in the 90s to hit a home run. Garcia was the first MLB player born in the 2000s to hit a home run.
Starlin Castro also had more hits through his age 29 season than Trout (Trout’s isn’t finished but he can’t catch him).
This is a fun fact
I will give $1000 to anyone who knew Starlin Castro was on the Nationals
Also Starlin Castro is not exempt from collecting the $1000 if he knew he was a National
Gotta love the “I didnt know Player X was on Team X so no one else must know either” posts.
Starling Castro didn’t know Starlin Castro was on the Nationals