Boston Red Sox Prospects: Pedro Castellanos shakes off unlucky start

Red Sox prospect Pedro Castellanos went from unlucky to unstoppable

The 2022 season started off just about as bad as it possibly could for Boston Red Sox prospect Pedro Castellanos. What do I mean by that? Well the right-handed hitter began the year 1-for-29 at the plate. That’s a .034 batting average.

By the time May rolled around, Castellanos still wasn’t exactly tearing it up. The outfielder and first baseman had a .116/.171/.217 slash line with two doubles, one triple, and one home run. He had driven in eight runs, and scored just three.

The thing is, this wasn’t some “oh he’s just getting acclimated to a new level at the start of a season” deal either. Castellanos is in Double-A. That’s the same level he spent all of 2021 at, slashing .289/.364/.471 in 87 games.

So what was wrong? Is it possible it was just a case of bad luck?

Castellanos was striking out a decent amount and not drawing many walks. But outside of an okay showing last year, walks have never really been a part of his game. And the strikeouts are still coming at a decent rate now.

Things are different now though. In May, Castellanos slashed .333/.351/.600 with six doubles and six home runs. And so far in June he’s slashing .324/.351/.441.

The result of this is a massive shift in his numbers. Now the 24-year-old holds a .254/.285/.435 slash line on the year. He’s hit 12 doubles, one triple, and seven home runs. His 35 RBI leads the team, and he has 20 runs scored to go along with it. The strikeouts are high (48) and the walks are low (7). But that shows that it’s been something going on all year. It’s not like he’s severely cut back on the Ks or anything.

So to answer the question from before, what was wrong? We’re sticking with luck. Go back and watch some of his games early on. Castellanos was hitting the ball well. There were some deep fly balls and hard hit grounders and line drives. They just kept finding gloves.

It serves as a reminder that luck does have a part in the game sometimes. And can be harmful to prospects. Look at Castellanos teammate Kole Cottam. It feels like he’s getting robbed of a hit by a diving play almost nightly the last few weeks. Those hard hit balls aren’t going his way, just like the beginning of the year for Castellanos.

Now if someone were to look at the stats, they would probably agree that Pedro Castellanos is having a strong year. They might even suggest that the Red Sox give him a shot in Triple-A at some point this season.

If a random fan off the Red Sox looked at the stats a month ago though, they might question why Castellanos is even getting a look in Double-A. And that right there is my issue with the box score watchers.

Yes, stats tell you some of the story. But not the full story. And yes, you need to bring them up when talking about a player because production is 99% of the game. But bad luck can happen. A bad game for a pitcher (especially early on) can destroy their numbers. You have to remember that there’s always a bigger story.

Pedro Castellanos has proven that by shaking off that bad luck and going from unlucky to unstoppable in barely more than a month.