The Cardinals drafted Castellanos in the 10th round in the 2008 draft out of Belmont Abbey College as a draft-eligible sophomore. Castellanos put up some good numbers across Johnson City and Batavia with a .884 OPS. However, a trend in his batting was started that has continued the next three years. Across those two leagues, Castellanos struck out 52 times and walked 10.
In 2009, he was moved up to full season Quad Cities and had a solid if unspectacular year in which he sported a 12% line drive rate, but was putting more balls in play as fly balls (35%) than average and continuing to strike out in bunches. He had 89 Ks to 20 walks in ~350 PAs. But, with 21 doubles, 4 triples and 5 home runs, when he does get a hold of the ball, something good happens. That got Castellanos a late promotion to Palm Beach where he struggled in ~50 PAs.
In 2010, his full season in A+ at Palm Beach put him on the map with prospect watchers. His .370 wOBA, .802 OPS and improved 16% line drive rate helped him to 33 doubles, 7 triples and 13 HRs in a pitcher’s league. With all these triples, Castellanos’s speed in apparent and in his 4 seasons in the minor leagues, he has 62 stolen bases and only 18 times caught. That sort of success puts his Fangraphs Speed Score up with the major league leaders in the category.
However, in Palm Beach in 2010, he did strike out 109 times and only walk 38.
Castellanos is off to a huge start in 2011, but at this point it looks slightly unsustainable because he has hit home runs on 16.1% of his balls hit in the air. (Around 6.5% is average.)
Looking at the stats, it is pretty clear what type of player Castellanos is so far in his career. He will swing for the fences and is happy to go down swinging while trying. He will not try to work a walk and his OBP will not be much more than his AVG. But when he hits the ball it will go very far and he has the ability to stretch a single into a double and double into a triple which helps his slugging numbers. Once on base, he also has dangerous speed to steal bases at will. Castellanos is an intriguing prospect based on his power and speed numbers, but will need to cut down on the strikeouts and add some walks to really push his prospect status to the next level.
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I caught him when Kane Co played Quad Cities…this guy really needs to focus on the mental side of hitting and adjust his approach. He seems to sqaure up balls in the zone really well, to the point where I didnt think that hitting off-speed stuff was such a problem (connected on a couple long pull foul balls) as much as having an idea of what he is looking to do when he gets up to the plate. Currently a high slugging percentace org filler…put him on a team with some high OBP guys and his count stats are going to look impressive.
“Displays power, takes his cuts at the plate, has a strikeout problem, has speed on the bases and in the field, good strong arm” —sounds like we dug up Tyler Greene’s scouting report from 3 or 4 years ago.
And Castellanos was middle infielder that would probably be enough to get him to the major leauges.
That’s what I was thinking.
except that Greene has showed virtually no power since arriving to the bigs. and this disappoints me.
……as Greene hits a homerun and raises his slugging percentage to about the midpoint between Albert and Holliday.
I’d really like to see what Greene could do in MLB with consistent playing time. In 2009 in Memphis, he hit .291/.369/.482, with 15 HR and 31 steals in 34 attempts.
The AAA numbers were down slightly last year, and I don’t know if that’s an effect of rusting on the MLB bench, or if he peaked in ’09.
He’s 27 now, so this would be about the time you’d expect him to be at his physical peak as a ballplayer.
Castellanos 2-for-2 with another bomb so far today, with the longball coming off John Lamb, no less.
Oh, and Additon has a perfect game through 5 innings.
Greene unfortunately is on teh farthest edge of the bench and probably won’t get any time this year.
Great article Jeff. I like what I see and I am on the Castellanos bandwagon. He has definately been underrated. My personal opinion is he should of been on the top 40 list last year.
Yes, his K’s are high but he can hit and when he does its for power and extra bases. In Palm Beach he had 35 doubles, 13 HR in pitcher friendly field thats incredible. He’s definately turning heads. I hear he’s considered one of the best outfielders out there at present, others say he can play infield as well. He has good coaching in AA so hopefully they can work with him on his k’s.
Sounds kind of like Juan Encarnacion.
except Castellanos looks like he cares.
I’d like to hear a little more about raniel rosario and John Rodriguez if you plan on doing any more of these.
Castellanos is a unique combination of power and speed. Bottomline. Hes definitley going to open eyes. The best baseball is in front of him and hes definitely driven by a different “force”. Looking forward to seeing this kid produce at the big league level.
[...] Future Redbirds (from April 2011) Looking at the stats, it is pretty clear what type of player Castellanos is so far in his career. He will swing for the fences and is happy to go down swinging while trying. He will not try to work a walk and his OBP will not be much more than his AVG. But when he hits the ball it will go very far and he has the ability to stretch a single into a double and double into a triple which helps his slugging numbers. Once on base, he also has dangerous speed to steal bases at will. Castellanos is an intriguing prospect based on his power and speed numbers, but will need to cut down on the strikeouts and add some walks to really push his prospect status to the next level. [...]