http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/02/17/what-the-red-sox-need-from-rusney-castillo/ Bringing BP-quality analysis to Boston Mon, 20 Aug 2018 04:19:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/02/17/what-the-red-sox-need-from-rusney-castillo/#comment-5873 Thu, 18 Feb 2016 16:44:00 +0000 http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=3585#comment-5873 Agreed. It’s those flashes of excellence during, essentially, a half-season rookie year figuring out MLB baseball that gives hope.
He handled the wall beautifully, instantly. Playing those caroms, quick release from his cannon arm, excellent range. To have a gifted CF in Fenway’s LF may be unheard of overkill, but with JBJ and Mookie in CF and RF, it makes for a virtually perfect defensive OF. And CB Young is his backup? Oh, my!!!! What an OF! Hanley’s follies are already a distant memory. Analytics are going to love the improvement in this OF, as will Sox pitchers.
As an experienced, rust-free, veteran player, only two questions remain. Can Rusney improve his hitting and
focus during his ‘sophomore’ year? IMO it is just as likely he will be more than just an improvement over Hanley in LF, which would be fine, but his upside as an older sophomore remains closer to original scouting reports, which would be pretty awesome.

]]> http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/02/17/what-the-red-sox-need-from-rusney-castillo/#comment-5861 Wed, 17 Feb 2016 20:20:23 +0000 http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=3585#comment-5861 A lot of people are down on Castillo, but we’ve seen enough flashes of ability to know that the skills are there. He’s capable of hitting much better than he did last year, and he deserves a chance to prove it. Even if he didn’t deserve that chance, his contract ensures that he’ll get it.

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