We are all ultimately judged by how many things we can do in a second.
Rodolfo Castro picked up two outs in a second on Saturday.
In the third inning of game one on against the Washington Nationals, the Pirates were trying to protect a 2-0 lead. Rich Hill had loaded the bases with no outs, but got Jeimer Candelario to hit a sharp line drive to Castro at short.
Castro fielded the ball like he was relaying a double play throw. In a second, he caught the line drive and threw to second — where Mark Mathias was waiting to double off the runner for the second out.
A huge credit to both players for instantly reacting. Castro for successfully catching the line drive and instinctively going for the second out. Mathias for reacting toward second on contact to be there for the out. The awareness from both players took Washington’s win probability from 63% to 43%.
We are all ultimately judged by how many things we can do in a second.
There’s nothing more challenging to a baseball player’s split-second abilities than the ability to hit a baseball.
Castro went 2-for-5 today, picking up both hits against lefty starter Patrick Corbin. After the Pirates’ 6-3 victory in game one, Castro had a .288/.384/.479 line on the season, with three home runs in 86 plate appearances.
Castro’s progression at the plate has been gradual since the end of last season. He was starting to make better swing decisions in Triple-A over the summer, and carried that to the big leagues in August.
To get a better idea of the swing decisions Castro is making, here is a look at his swing rates from each side, via Brooks Baseball.
CASTRO IS CRUSHING LEFTIES
Castro saw 56 plate appearances as a right-hander in the majors prior to August of 2022. As you can see in the chart below, he was a free swinger. There wasn’t a pitch that Castro wouldn’t swing at in the very top of the zone, and he couldn’t lay off the bottom of the zone.
He also was swinging at a lot of outside pitches, while protecting inside balls. Castro wasn’t really focusing on any specific area of the plate with his attack approach. Keep in mind that Castro is going to be standing on the left of the images below.
Here are the numbers so far this season from the right side. I’ll let the mostly blue chart show how selective he’s being with where he’s covering the zone.
Castro still goes for those low pitches, but he’s done a great job of narrowing his swing focus to the low, outside part of the strike zone. He’s cut down swinging at extreme outside pitches, and he’s almost abandoned the top quadrant of the zone — even if it means more strikes in the top outside corner. Overall, he’s shifted his focus down, and more controlled within the strike zone.
He has a 1.248 OPS as a right-hander against lefties this year. He added two more hits today against Corbin. This has been, by far, the biggest impact to his game.
Castro had an .861 OPS against lefties in 2021, but a .600 OPS overall in 2022. He’s looking like a lefty masher in 2023.
CASTRO IS STRUGGLING FROM THE LEFT SIDE
Castro had 115 plate appearances as a lefty hitter pre-August 2022. He would be on the right side of the images below. As a lefty, he was still a free swinger — active above and below the zone, while swinging at outside pitches.
In 2023, Castro still goes for some outside pitches. He’s narrowed his focus at the top and bottom of the zone, specifically on inside pitches.
From this comparison, it looks like he’s focusing more to the top right part of the zone. It also looks like he still has some work to do to narrow his focus toward the middle.
So far this year, Castro has a 30.4% strikeout rate from the left side, which has led to a .601 OPS. He’s still got some things to improve upon from this side.
BETTER SWING DECISIONS
In my trip to Altoona last year, I wrote about the Pirates’ approach to hitting development, where they’re getting hitters to focus on specific areas of the zone to lay their focus.
Jon Nunnally Discusses the Hitting Development Approach in Altoona
The approach the Pirates have for their hitters is akin to a game of chess, where a hitter controls the middle of the board, then isolates their area to attack away from the middle.
“If you can control the middle of the plate, you can control the game,” said Nunnally. “They’ve got to throw strikes. We’ve just got to control that portion of the plate that if we get in there, we can hammer something.”
That approach was discussed in Altoona, but it’s a system-wide approach. As you can see with Castro above, he formerly was swinging at literally everything from the right side. He’s now narrowing his focus to a very specific area of the zone, and it’s led to a massive results. His focus hasn’t been as narrowed from the left side, which has resulted in continued swing and miss issues.
We are all ultimately judged by how many things we can do in a second.
Logically, each area of the zone would require a microsecond to defend. If you’re focused on fewer areas of the strike zone, you don’t have to spread your time focus as far. You can focus on your zone, and have more time to dismiss anything outside of that zone.
Castro seems to have found his zone from the right-side of the plate. He seems to be settling into another type of zone in the field, stepping up to replace Oneil Cruz. If he can narrow his zone from the left-side, we could see Castro emerge as an All-Star everyday starter.
PIRATES SCOPE
**What a great debut by Miguel Andujar in game one. He went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, breaking a 2-2 tie. If you missed it, check out Anthony Murphy’s writeup of Andujar’s hitting success from just prior to his callup.
**I was glad to see Colin Holderman getting an easy outing today, after struggling in his last appearance. With a 6-3 lead, Holderman pitched a clean inning, needing just 11 pitches, and throwing seven strikes.
**The Pirates needed this start from Rich Hill, who spared the bullpen of a short outing in the first game of a double-header. Since his first two outings, Hill’s results have been exactly what you’d hope for from a free agent meant to provide a stabilizing presence to the rotation. He kept the Pirates in the game all day, allowing for the Andujar homer to shine through.
The Pirates won game one 6-3. Jeff Reed will have a recap of both games after game two.
TODAY ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
John Dreker broke down the latest MLB draft rankings from Baseball America.
Pirates Draft Prospects: A Look at the New Draft Rankings and Many Familiar Names
Anthony Murphy looked at the hot start to the year from Tres Gonzalez in Bradenton.
Pirates Prospects Daily: Tres Gonzalez Hitting Well In Bradenton To Start Year
