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Red Sox Rusney Castillo May Not Start In The Outfield

By Brandon Nickel

Sep 23, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox outfielder Rusney Castillo (38) gets a base hit during the fourth inning of the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 23, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox outfielder Rusney Castillo (38) gets a base hit during the fourth inning of the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports /
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With the 2016 regular season coming soon, the Boston Red Sox still have some spots left to name a starter. Outfielder Rusney Castillo may not be one of them.

According to Ian Browne of MLB.com, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said, “He’s still not an established Major League player […] He has to go out and show he can earn the job. And the way you go out and do it is to play day in, and day out. He has to go out and do it. Do we think he can do it? Yes. But he still has to perform and show us that he can.”

The problem was that Castillo was bitten by the injury bug early last season, to the point where even when he did play he was not playing to his potential. Castillo said, “The thing that surprised me was the injuries I suffered last year, it forced me to stop my conditioning and that’s why by the end of the year, I was more tired and wasn’t really in baseball shape […] So basically I was unstable, and being away from the field two to three weeks at a time because of injuries really threw me off my rhythm.”

Whatever the reason for them, the long list of injuries, time in the minors, and the results of the 2015 season have not impressed Dombrowski enough to feel confident that he is the Red Sox left fielder, at the moment.

In just 80 games last season, Castillo hit a slash line of .253/.288/.359, a far cry from the 10 games that he played in 2014 for the Red Sox. In that small sample size, after making the move from Cuba, Castillo hit .333/.400/.528 with two home runs and six RBIs. The following year, with a bigger sample size, he hit just five homers and 29 RBIs.

Between bringing in Chris Young from the New York Yankees and Brock Holt and Travis Shaw waiting in the wings for a full-time position, Castillo does not have as long a time period to prove to the executive brass that he can perform up to his contract. The Red Sox paid through the proverbial nose to earn Castillo’s services, thinking of him as the next big thing, and they still owe him $60.4 million until he can opt out of his contract in 2019.

Judging 80 games in the big leagues is hard to do, let alone 10 games. As hot as everyone was for Castillo to play center field for the Red Sox for decades, now they can barely decide whether he will be the left field starter. Castillo needs to be prepared as well as he thinks he has this season, or else he could be labeled another Red Sox investment bust.

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