Rodolfo Castro Gets First Crack at Shortstop in Place of Cruz (+)
PITTSBURGH — In wake of the Oneil Cruz long-term injury, Rodolfo Castro is getting the first chance to fill in for his teammate at shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Cruz is expected to miss four months after undergoing surgery to repair his fractured left ankle, an injury sustained in Sunday’s win over the Chicago White Sox.
Outside of Cruz, the Pirates don’t necessarily have a clear-cut shortstop on their roster, but Castro certainly has some familiarity with the position.
The past experience is one of the reasons that Pirates’ manager Derek Shelton is opting for Castro to receive the first looks at the position. Shelton believes Castro is capable.
“My confidence is high. I think you saw the play he made (on Sunday) in the eighth with Tim Anderson running down the line in a 1-0 game and he’s gotta make that transfer. So, confidence level is high.
” I think the one thing with Rudy that, if you look back, he played a lot of short during Spring Training because we had that competition at second. We had a bunch of guys there. Second base defense was never a concern with me with Rudy. The days we gave Oneil off, Rudy ended up going to short and playing those days just to get the at-bats. So, he actually got a ton of reps there in Spring Training, which makes me feel a little bit bit better,” Shelton said.
Castro’s first game at shortstop this season was a bit of a mixed bag, but the good mostly outweighed the bad.
Castro committed an error on a routine grounder, but he also made a couple of nice plays in the field. One of those plays was an unassisted double play where he caught a liner off the bat of Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker and beat Yordan Alvarez back to second base to end the inning.
“He played fine. The error was just he lost the ball on the transfer. It was a routine ground ball hit right to him and he just dropped it on the transfer but other than that I think he did a nice job. He had 3-4 hard-hit line drives at him. The other ground ball he did a nice job on. It was just the one he dropped, he dropped it on the exchange,” Shelton said on Castro’s performance.
Castro, himself, is ready to fill the void. Last season with the Pirates, Castro appeared in 19 games at short, 17 of which were starts. He also has minor league experience manning shortstop.
“Physically and mentally, I’m ready for any position they put me out there to play. I’m ready for anything the team needs me for,” Castro said through team interpreter Stephen Morales.
While Castro is well-experienced in three infield spots, there are certain challenges at shortstop that may not be as present at second or third base.
One of those challenges doesn’t necessarily have to do with fielding. Castro, while being a bundle of energy, is fairly soft-spoken. The 23-year-old is now the “captain” of the infield so to say.
“As a shortstop, I feel like I have to be more of a vocal leader out there, but (the rest) doesn’t change. Every position out there, you have to be ready with a good attitude and effort just to play good baseball.”
It will be hard for anyone on the Pirates to fill the void left by Cruz. Cruz is a dynamic player who can do things on a baseball field that not a lot of other players can do.
Castro will try and fill that void left by his close friend in Cruz. It began on Monday night against Houston. While, sure, he did make a bad error, there was still a lot of good that could be seen. At the plate, Castro was on base three times and drove in one of the two Pirates’ runs in the game.
Expect to see plenty of Castro at short in the Pirates’ upcoming games.