He’s Good. And He’s Ours.
Twelve games does not a career make, however twelve games into his Cub career, Castro has looked good enough to cause disbelief that this 20-year-old position player could actually be a prospect the Cubs selected and have nurtured themselves.
For the record, Castro is now hitting .364 with 1 home run (in his first Major League at-bat), 9 RBI, an OBP of .429, a slugging percentage of .500, and an OPS of 929. In 49 plate appearances, Castro has also struck out just 5 times.
In 1959, twelve games into his Cub career, then 21-year-old Billy Williams was 5-for-28 (.179) with 2 RBI. (Williams, by the way, would go on to become National League Rookie of the Year in 1961, his first full season in the Majors.)
In 1960, twelve games into his Cub career, then 20-year-old Ron Santo was 11-for-45 (.244).
And in 1982, twelve games into his Cub career, then 22-year-old Ryne Sandberg, who had actually played in a handful of games the previous season as a Phillie, was hitting an anemic .133 (just 6-for-45.)
Castro may never be anything more than a shadow of any one of those Cub greats—if that—but he is off to a magnificent start and in a season that may be bereft of great joys, it is fun to imagine what he might become.
