LAKELAND, Fla. — Take your pick which Willi Castro highlight from Tuesday’s 6-5 win over the Yankees means more heading into the regular season.
His three-run home run in the fourth inning off Yankees reliever Luis Cessa was his third homer of the spring, continuing his Grapefruit League hit spree after his late-season tear earned him American League Rookie of the Year consideration last year.
The very next inning, his whirling grab up the middle and strong throw on the move to first was a reminder that for all his throwing struggles early this spring, he might be better throwing on the move.
“I think the infielders have got to have momentum. I think that was one of the struggles, too, that I had,” Castro said. “I think I just have to follow through and know that the throws are going to be good. That’s what I was working on this morning, and it came out really good today.”
The combination furthers the momentum Castro is building as he heads into his first Opening Day roster assignment. He was already slated to be Detroit’s shortstop before camp began. Now he’s looking like he could be a focal point of the tinkered lineup.
Most hitters hunt fastballs in the first half of Spring Training, but Castro’s homer was an example of the opposite. He said he was anticipating an offspeed pitch after watching Cessa’s approach against the hitters before him.
“The first AB that I had, I pulled the ball a little bit,” Castro said. “So my second AB, I was thinking more about my approach, focus on hitting the ball to the oppo.”
Castro’s 103.8 mph exit velocity made it the second-hardest hit ball by a Tiger in the game, trailing only Riley Greene’s 109.6 mph RBI double off the wall in left-center field in the eighth inning. But he hit the ball at such a high angle, 25 degrees, that Yankees left fielder Clint Frazier thought he might have a play on it until he ran into the wall as the ball landed on the berm.
Castro is now 6-for-14, with all but one of his hits going for extra bases. He was tied for the Major League lead in RBIs entering Tuesday evening. While this kind of tear is unsustainable, as is the .448 average he posted on balls put in play last year, his approach seems more lasting, especially if he’s reading pitchers and anticipating how they’ll approach him.
“As spring gets a little deeper, those are great details,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “We want guys paying attention. The game will tell you a lot if you just watch it. And I think our guys, as they continue to develop in the big leagues, they’re learning the benefits of that, today being an example.”
Tuesday marked the first time Hinch used the re-entry rule to get a pitcher back into a game. He pulled lefty Daniel Norris with one out in the fifth inning and his pitch count at 28, turned to Drew Carlton to finish the inning, then brought back Norris for the sixth, which he finished in 20 pitches despite a two-out single and a nine-pitch walk.
“We really wanted him to throw, like, 45 to 50 on the day, so I needed to save some for the second inning,” Hinch said. “Thankfully we have that rule this year for exactly this example. And even though it’s awkward in a game and you don’t want to make it too much of an exhibition and not the real game, it’s important for us to keep building pitch counts without threatening injury.”
• Grayson Greiner, who suffered a broken nose when he was hit by a pitch on Sunday, will have a few days off before being gradually worked back into activities. “We did dodge a tough one,” Hinch said. “Just having it be the nose is still tough news, but it’s better than it could have been.”
• Renato Núñez has been fully cleared to join camp and will likely make his game debut on Friday against the Yankees at Joker Marchant Stadium, according to Hinch.
• Victor Reyes will make his game debut on Wednesday against the Phillies in Clearwater, where he’ll serve as the DH.
• Jonathan Schoop is still waiting for full clearance to join camp.