After the recent white-hot run of Rusney Castillo (eight for 15 with a walk, two doubles and three RBI), his manager in Puerto Rico, ex-Red Sox infielder Alex Cora took to Twitter last night to talk about his recently arrived star player.
Rusney Castillo...ready
— Alex (@ac13alex) December 23, 2014
Cora later responded to some tweets that questioned his evaluation of his star centerfielder.
Cómico como muchos piensan que lo que hablamos de Rusney es porque jugó para los @CriollosCaguas.
— Alex (@ac13alex) December 23, 2014
This translates to “Funny how many people think that what we are talking about Rusney is because he played for the @CriollosCaguas” Another revealing observation from Cora:
Yo no soy scout pero jugué 13 años al mejor nivel y talento de sobra vi. Creo que tengo una idea de quien es jugador de impacto y quien no.
— Alex (@ac13alex) December 23, 2014
This translates roughly to “I’m not a scout but played 13 years at the best level and talent. I think I have an idea who is impact player and who is not.” To sum it up, Cora concludes his praise with:
Los Medias Rojas no se equivocaron con Castillo.
— Alex (@ac13alex) December 23, 2014
As an ESPN analyst for the past two seasons Cora is telling us “The Red Sox were not mistaken with Castillo.”
Cora has been on the record before about how impressive Castillo has been.
"“When you have a high-profile import, usually they show up, they play, they leave,” Cora said. “They don’t mingle, they could care less about teammates. With Rusney, it’s the total opposite. He’s been like an independent league pitcher who really cares about winning. He pays attention to the game, he wants to win. He’s doing everything possible to help us win games.”"
From what we are seeing from Rusney Castillo so far, from his abilities on both sides of the ball, Red Sox Nation has many reason to be excited for Spring Training and another exciting turnaround season in 2015.
Stay tuned for the end of Rusney’s season in Puerto Rico as well as the other Winter Leagues.