Starlin Castro (born Starlin DeJesus Castro on March 24, 1990 in Monte Cristi in the Dominican Republic) is a Dominican professional baseball infielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Chicago Cubs.
He is a three-time MLB All-Star and holds the record for most runs batted in in an MLB debut.
In 2011, he led the National League in hits, becoming the youngest player to do so.
Starlin is listed at 6 feet (1.83 meters) and 190 lb (86 kg).
Playing Career[]
Minor League Career[]
In 2009, Starlin was named to the New York State League All-Star team and won MVP honors, going 4-for-4 with an inside-the-park home run in the game. He was also named All-Star Futures Game for the World Team.
After the season, he was named the best prospect in Chicago's organization by "Baseball America".
Chicago Cubs[]
2010
Starlin was called up to the majors on May 7, 2010 from the Tennessee Smokies (the Cubs Double-A affiliate). He became the first major league player born in the 1990s.
In his first major league at-bat, he hit a home run off of Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds.
He became the sixth player in Cubs history and 106th player overall to do so. Later in the game he hit a triple with the bases loaded, setting the record for most runs batted in (RBIs) in a major league debut with six. He finished the game two for five in the Cubs' 14 to 7 win.
He finished the season with a .300/.347/.408 line with three home runs and 41 RBIs in 463 at-bats over 125 games.
Despite his significant offensive contribution, Starlin led the team and was second in the National League in errors with 27.
On October 19, 2010, Starlin was named the shortstop on Baseball America's 2010 All-Rookie Team.
He was also named the shortstop on the 2010 Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team. He finished tied for fifth in Rookie of the Year voting.
2011: All-Star Season
2011 was Starlin's first full season as a MLB player and also marked his first All-Star Game selection as he was one of three shortstops selected to the National League All-Star team. He was the youngest Chicago Cub player to make an All-Star team.
The same day, Castro received the "Edward Jones Player of the Month" award honors. Castro was the National League Player of the Week twice during the 2011 season.
On September 23, 2011, he got his 200th base hit of the season, at Busch Stadium against the rival St. Louis Cardinals and was the youngest member of the Cubs to ever do so.
Starlin was the youngest player to ever lead the National League in hits, achieving the feat with his 207th hit of the season on September 28, 2011.
His game jersey was sent to the Hall of Fame, in a similar manner to his MLB debut's game jersey. His line for the 2011 season was .307/.341/.432, and it was the first season in which he hit double digit home runs (10).
Overall, Starlin finished the 2011 season with a .307 batting average, 10 home runs and 66 RBI. His 207 base hits and 674 at-bats both led the National League.
On defense, he led all major league shortstops in errors, with 29. He also had the lowest fielding percentage (.961).
2012: All-Star Season
Starlin was selected to the National League All-Star team along with teammate Bryan LaHair.
He completed the 2012 season playing all 162 games with a .283 average, 14 homers, and 78 RBI. He was caught stealing 13 times which led the MLB. He also led the National League again with 646 at-bats.
2013
Starlin had his worst year ending with a career low batting average of .245. He hit 10 home runs and had 44 RBIs, nine steals and 2 triples while playing in 161 games.
2014: All-Star Season
After a disappointing 2013, Starlin was selected to appear in his third All-Star game along with teammate Anthony Rizzo in 2014.
Unfortunately, his All-Star year came to an early end when he was injured on September 2nd when he awkwardly slid into home plate in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Starlin did not return for the balance of the year and finished with a strong batting average of .292 with 14 home runs, 65 RBI's, 4 stolen bases, 33 doubles and 1 triple in 528 at bats.
He was the top hitting shortstop (for average) in the National League ahead of the Dodgers' Hanley Ramírez. On defense, he had only 15 errors and a fielding percentage of .973.
2015
During an April 20, 2015 game in Pittsburgh against the Pirates, Starlin hit a ball that went foul behind home plate and accidentally struck a fan in her head. The game was delayed for 23 minutes until the fan was escorted on a stretcher and hospitalized due to a concussion.
Come the trade deadline, there was much speculation of a trade involving Starlin. Potential deals might have involved him going to the Phillies or the Padres. Amid the speculation, he was told by manager Joe Maddon that he would not be traded.
In August of 2015, he was benched by Cubs manager Joe Maddon due to poor performance, including a career low .236 batting average. With rookie Addison Russell taking over as the everyday shortstop, Castro made the switch to second base on August 12th.
On September 18th (in an important game against the division leading Cardinals), Starlin hit two home runs and matched his career high with six RBIs to lead the Cubs to an 8-3 win.
New York Yankees[]
On December 8, 2015, Starlin was traded to the New York Yankees in exchange for pitcher Adam Warren and a player to be named later.
On December 15, 2015, Brendan Ryan was also traded to the Cubs to finalize the transaction.
2016
On April 6, 2016, Starlin had 5 RBI in a win over the Houston Astros and he broke the franchise record for most RBI in the first two career games with the Yankees with 7 and the fourth player to get 7 RBI in the first two games in a season.
On April 9, 2016, he recorded his 1000th career hit, in a win over the Detroit Tigers.
On June 22, 2016, he hit his first ever walk-off home run in a 9-8 win over the Rockies.
Personal Life[]
In 2011, Starlin was sought by Chicago Police for questioning regarding an alleged sexual assault.
A woman claimed to have met him in a bar and later woken up to Starlin sexually assaulting her in his apartment, but charges were filed.
On December 9, 2014, Starlin was detained for questioning by the police regarding a shooting in one of the Dominican Republic's nightclubs. It was alleged that he and his brother got into an argument with a government official.
According to his agent Paul Kinzer, he was cleared of any involvement and was not arrested (even though his home was searched) and Starlin was questioned.