Pittsburgh Pirates: Rodolfo Castro Makes MLB History

Since making his MLB debut and now becoming the team’s starting second baseman, Rodolfo Castro is off to a historically strong start for the Pittsburgh Pirates

The remainder of the 2021 season will be all about the future for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Part of playing for the future includes playing young players who could be a part of the future. One of these players for the Pirates is infielder Rodolfo Castro.

Castro ranks as the organization’s 21st best prospect according to FanGraphs. The two biggest tools Castro brings to the table are his power and positional flexibility. FanGraphs gives Castro’s raw power a future value of 50 and he can play third base, shortstop, second base and the corner outfield spots.

Castro made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in April but went 0-for-3 in his short stint. After returning to Double-A Altoona, Castro returned to the Pirates for another short stint earlier this month.

After Adam Frazier was traded to the San Diego Padres on Sunday night, Castro recalled to the active roster on Tuesday. Castro has started both games at second base since Frazier was traded and it appears that the Pittsburgh Pirates will give him every opportunity down the stretch to prove he can be part of the team’s future.

Thus far in his MLB career Castro has flashed why he is was a highly touted prospect and one the Pirates protected from the Rule 5 Draft this past offseason. In fact, Castro is off to a historically good start to his MLB career.

Through his first 23 MLB plate appearances Castro has 5 hits. All 5 of these hits have been home runs. This comes after Castro had a two home run performance in a 7-3 loss against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.

With this start to his MLB career Castro is the first hitter in MLB history whose first 5 career hits have all been home runs. Castro has always been known for his power posting a .227 ISO and .527 slugging percentage at Double-A this season and a .274 ISO and a .563 slugging at Low-A in 2019.

Castro is now hitting for a .238/.304/.952 slash line to go with a 217 wRC+ through his first 23 career PAs. While he always struggled with the swing-and-miss in his minor league career, Castro has struck out in just 21.7% of his trips to the plate to go with a strong early walk rate of 8.7%.

Moving forward Castro needs to continue to play every day for the Pirates. Castro has the potential to be a long-time starter for the Pirates and a big part of the team’s new core. While there may not be a lot of excitement for Pirate fans the rest of the season, watching Castro play should bring plenty of excitement.