A Closer Look: Cubs Shortstop Starlin Castro

The Cubs called up top prospect Starlin Castro back on May 7th and Castro make GM Jim Hendry look like a genius as he went 2-5 with a HR, a triple and 6 RBIs in his first major league game. Castro hasn't gone more than 3 games without a hit since. He is currently on a 6 game streak with multiple hits.

For the season, Castro is hitting .321-.363-.443 with 3 HRs, 40 RBIs and 8 SBs. So, he isn't flashing much power or speed on the basepaths. But, he appears to like hitting second in the Cubs lineup as he is hitting .344-.369-.458 with 2 HRs, 19 RBIs and 7 SBs from the second spot in the lineup. Castro makes alot of contact as evidenced by his 87% contact rate and 93% contact rate for pitches within the zone, courtesy of Fangraphs.

Since the All-star break, Castro is hitting .370-.394-.505 in 200 at bats, with 20 doubles, which leads the majors. I wonder if Castro will eventually hit for more power in the majors. In their 2010 Prospect handbook, Baseball America had this to say about Castro:

Castro's performance has drawn him comparisons to Tony Fernandez, Edgar Renteria, Miguel Tejada and Derek Jeter.....Though he had only 32 extra base hits in 2009, Castro has the power potential to double that once he mature physically.... He has plus speed to make things happen on the basepaths.

Baseball America certainly puts him in some good, to great, company comparing to the likes of Tejada and Jeter. To hit for more power, Castro will have to learn to hit more flyballs, as he is only hitting 30% of his batted balls in the air, and only 3% are leaving the ballpark.

Castro sports a solid 15% K rate, but walks only 5.6% of his at bats. His BABIP of .367 is solid, and at this point we do not know if that will be normal for him, but league average BABIP is around .300, so one would think it will regress a bit before the season ends, thus lowering his BA as well.

Going into 2011 fantasy drafts, Castro could be one of the top 10 shortstops taken. I could see him approaching double digits in homers and SBs in 2011, with a solid BA around .290-.300.