In 2010, Welington Castillo was part of the Pro Debut set and played in 7 games for the Cubs. In 2011, he made the Update set even though he played in just 4 games. In 2012, he was shut out by Topps. With Geovany Soto out of the picture, maybe this is the year Castillo can claw his way into the base set by making it into the Series 2 checklist.
In my opinion, this 2013 Cubs Factory Team Set card for him is a great card and deserves to be mass produced into the flagship set.
Play at the plate?
Check.
Horizontal card?
Check.
Interleague play?
Check.
Cubs coming out on top in the play?
Let's take a look!
 |
| Phot by David Banks (Courtesy of Getty Images) |
CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 16: David Ortiz #34 of the Boston Red Sox is tagged out at home by Welington Castillo #53 of the Chicago Cubs in the first inning on June 16, 2012 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images) |
Check.
Excellent! According the boxscore on Baseball Reference, David Ortiz drew a two-out walk off of Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija. Red Sox catcher/cleanup hitter Jarrod Saltalamacchia followed that up with a deep line drive to the CF-RF gap. Rightfielder Reed Johnson hit the cutoff man, shortstop Starlin Castro, who relayed the ball to home in time for Castillo to apply the tag.
Think about that for a second. David Ortiz tried to score from first. With two outs, he may have been running on contact, but this wasn't a 2-out, full count opportunity where the runner is already moving. This was a big guy, trying to score from first. He has 11 stolen bases in his career. He does have 16 career triples, much more than I would have guessed, but not too many players are capable of running 270 feet safely. I don't remember the exact play, whether the ball was caroming around off the wall or maybe a bobble, but I have to wonder what the third base coach was thinking to wave him around for another 90 feet.
A quick at the back of the card makes Welington Castillo look like a grizzled veteran. However, a closer look shows it to be only a few years worth of work, but at different levels in some seasons. As I mentioned earlier, with 2008 ROY winner Geovany Soto catching games for the Cubs, it was tough to get time in behind the plate for Castillo. There's a little competition from Dioner Navarro but Castillo is the only Cubs starter currently batting over .300. Sounds like somebody we need to keep in the starting lineup!
Great looking card, and I've been pleasantly surprised with Castillo so far this year. Hopefully he can keep the batting average up.
ReplyDelete