If I had a dime for every "Starlin Castro to second base" article -- with or without a question mark stuck on the end -- I'd still be short of CTA fare. But not too far short.
The kid is in rareified air, so let's take a sip of contextual coffee on this Sunday morning.
I hate fielding stats, particularly errors, but since that's what we're really talking about, let's talk about it. Caveat: you gotta be no more than 20 years old and have played since 1954 to take part in this conversation. Opening up to pre-1954 means adding Cass Michaels and a bunch of pre-Depression-era players dating back to the 19th century.
| Shortstop | Year | Seasonal Age | Team | GS | PO | A | E | wOBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robin Yount | 1975 | 19 | Milwaukee Brewers | 144 | 273 | 402 | 44 | .309 |
| Robin Yount | 1976 | 20 | Milwaukee Brewers | 161 | 290 | 510 | 31 | .273 |
| Starlin Castro | 2010 | 20 | Chicago Cubs | 121 | 183 | 334 | 27 | .325 |
| Jack Heidemann | 1970 | 20 | Cleveland Indians | 131 | 216 | 354 | 23 | .244 |
| Elvis Andrus | 2009 | 20 | Texas Rangers | 140 | 261 | 407 | 22 | .322 |
| Jose Oquendo | 1983 | 19 | New York Mets | 104 | 182 | 326 | 21 | .225 |
| Robin Yount | 1974 | 18 | Milwaukee Brewers | 102 | 148 | 327 | 19 | .280 |
| Alex Rodriguez | 1996 | 20 | Seattle Mariners | 145 | 238 | 404 | 15 | .444 |
| Alan Trammell | 1978 | 20 | Detroit Tigers | 135 | 239 | 421 | 14 | .313 |
| Edgar Renteria | 1996 | 20 | Florida Marlins | 103 | 163 | 344 | 11 | .344 |
Sure, that's a lot of errors and it's continuing into his age 21 season. But Starlin can hit, too.
Next topic.
3 comments:
If the Cubs were in a position to compete this year or Castro were older I think it would make more sense to talk about moving him. But they're not and he's really young. His fielding may be hurting a team that's not going anywhere, so they might as well see if he can improve instead of shifting him to a less valuable position at this point.
Could be that all these young stud shortstops made all these errors because their ridiculous range allowed them to get to so many more balls that would have gone through to the outfield for a hit for an average shortstop.
That's a big part of the equation that gets lost when "errors" are the measure of choice. Andrus made more plays and fewer errors, but it's not like he's head-and-shoulders above Castro. Head, maybe. But I don't think anyone is moving him around.
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