What Detroit Tigers think about Willi Castro as ‘struggles have piled up’

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Willi Castro isn’t cocky or arrogant. Far from it, in fact. 

“He’s always been a worker while I’ve been here,” Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “I think he’ll come out of it. You got some growing pains along the way that we’re going to have to deal with as he finds his way and finds his comfort in the big leagues.”

In 2020, Castro was one of the bright spots of the Tigers’ 60-game season. He hit .349 with six home runs and 24 RBIs, with four doubles and two triples in 36 games. He tied for fourth in American League Rookie of the Year voting. He did so well the organization — despite Castro’s defensive woes — locked him in as the everyday shortstop until further notice.

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Much has already changed.

The switch-hitting Castro, 24, has a .205 batting average through 34 games this season. He has seven walks and 42 strikeouts. His poor defense forced Hinch to move him to second base, where his fielding and throwing remain below average. On Sunday, he was picked off at first base on Chicago Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks’ sixth attempt to get him.

“He’s getting a lot of extra work defensively, and I do think that’s taken a toll on his hitting a little bit,” Hinch said. “As the hitting struggles have piled up, I see him as a guy who has pressed a little bit. It hasn’t changed his spirit or his vibe or his energy, but it has changed his production.”

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Castro has struggled against the fastball, hitting just .169 against them (11-for-65, 10 singles and 26 strikeouts). He is hitting .219 and .269 against breaking and off-speed pitches, respectively.

Castro hit .361 against fastballs last season, as well as .315 on breaking pitches and .357 on off-speed pitches. Strikeouts were an issue, but he was making enough contact to offset the swings and misses.

“He’s chasing quite a bit, especially the high fastball left-handed,” Hinch said. “He hasn’t really gotten on track right-handed. He’s just day-by-day trying to find an incremental way to get a little better. He’ll flash it. The opposite field home run last homestand, draw a big walk here or there, he’ll get an infield hit.

“As a young player, we don’t want him to start questioning what he’s doing. It’s OK to be frustrated with not getting the results, and he can get a little down on himself at times. The key is to try to draw something positive out of every day.”

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Castro has a .156 batting average as a right-handed batter against lefty pitchers, with 10 strikeouts. He has a .221 batting average as a left-handed batter against righty pitchers, with 32 of his strikeouts.

But Castro did crush a three-run homer May 7 in a 7-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins. The next day, he drew two walks — one with two outs in a five-run seventh inning — in a 7-3 win. Castro went 2-for-5 with two runs scored in Saturday’s 9-8 win over the Cubs, his first multi-hit game since April 21 against the Pirates.

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At times, Castro lets his athleticism take over defensively. But he is a below-average defender at both middle infield positions. He has a minus-two defensive runs saved — a number to show how many runs a player has, or hasn’t, saved on defense — in 17 games at shortstop and a minus-four DRS in 18 games at second base.

“Young players will carry things longer with them,” Hinch said. “Veteran players can shed it a little bit faster. They’ve got a lot more experience to draw from. I think young players tend to dwell a little bit more on what they aren’t doing, or what they haven’t done.”

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Castro is a career .264 hitter in just 100 games in the major leagues across parts of three seasons. Until now, he hasn’t developed through an offensive slump and seen the other side at baseball’s highest level. That’s one reason the Tigers believe he should improve as he matures.

Right now, Castro is simply facing a new and difficult experience. 

“We’ve got to tweak approach here and there and figure out what guys are trying to do,” Hinch said. “With Willi in specific, we need to tighten that game plan a little bit for him and try to get him to execute that game plan. 

“Getting him to shed the previous at-bat if it didn’t go well is pretty key, and not making the same mistake over and over.”

Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.