Willi Castro Is A Timeless Twin

The Minnesota Twins have seen many great players come and go in franchise history. Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, and Rod Carew were their early stars. Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek powered their World Series runs. Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau were stars in the 2000s before they turned to Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis in the modern era.

However, star players aside, the Twins, as an organization and fanbase, see their players as gritty, flexible, and willing to do the little things to make something happen on the field to succeed.

That sounds an awful lot like Willi Castro, who earned his first All-Star game appearance this season after a career year. Removing his COVID-shortened campaign in 2020, Castro is on pace to have the best stats of his six-season career. He has career highs with a .265/.352/.422 and a 123 wRC+. The seven home runs Castro already has recorded put him just two home runs shy of reaching his previous career high of nine. After coming up with a career-high 33 stolen bases a season ago, Castro has swiped 10 bags in 2024.

Castro has been a huge success story for the Twins over the last two seasons. From hanging on to a roster spot as a role player to super-utility player to All-Star, he has built a strong following among the Twins fanbase. Everything about Castro, from the come-from-behind story combined with his player archetype, makes him a timeless player who could have played for the Twins at any time in their history.

He has made several improvements to get to where he is now. Castro has hit the ball harder, with a career-high 87.6 MPH average exit velocity. Still, that’s lower than the 88.5 MPH league average. Castro’s rise in exit velocity comes from better plate discipline. As he matured as a big leaguer, so did his command of the strike zone. Castro has a career-low 50.1 percent swing rate and 31.7 percent chase rate. He’s unlikely to develop Mauer’s plate vision, but cleaning up that part of his game has pushed Castro into All-Star status.

The biggest reason might just be time. Castro made his big-league debut at age 21 in 2019. He showed some flashes, like the 153 wRC+ 2020 60-game season. Still, the Detroit Tigers rushed him, and they cut him after the 2022 season with valuable years of team control remaining. However, Castro has leaned into his strengths in Minnesota. He may never earn an MVP award, but Castro’s characteristics of doing all the little things at an All-Star level endear him to fans and coaches of every generation.

Of course, All-Stars would typically succeed in almost every baseball era. Castro isn’t just a classic Twin because he has been a productive player; it’s why he’s been producing.

One of the main reasons the Twins added Castro to the roster in 2023 was because he’s an effective super-utility player. Castro can play all three outfield positions and is everywhere in the infield except first base. He has also been a plus-defender in terms of run value in every spot except center field.

Rocco Baldelli values positional flexibility because it creates depth and helps with in-game substitution decisions. Castro’s flexibility allowed him to appear in 124 games last year, and he has played in all 96 games this season. It’s easy to imagine Billy Martin, Tom Kelly, or Ron Gardenhire excitedly putting Castro into their lineup. Gardenhire was Castro’s manager during his first two seasons in Detroit, where he bounced all around the infield in 2019 and 2020.

Speed is another core component of Castro’s evergreen style. Fans love to see a player who can steal bases, and Castro has had 43 stolen bases in Minnesota over the last two seasons. However, baserunning is more than just stolen bases. According to Baseball Savant, Castro’s overall baserunning is in the 82nd percentile despite a 27.8 ft./second sprint speed only in the 65th percentile.

He’s not as uber-aggressive as you’d think, with his 41 advance attempt percentage, which is only 6 percent above the league average. But when he does decide to go, he gets there, as seen by his 97 percent safe percentage when advancing. He’s a good baserunner who can steal some bases and isn’t afraid to throw a bunt down occasionally when the situation demands it.

The underdog story, good baserunning, and positional flexibility all help Castro’s standing among fans and coaches. However, his ability to come up with big hits in big spots adds an extra layer to his game. Castro has a 127 wRC+ and a .794 OPS with runners on base. In 2023, Castro had a career-best 1.73 win probability added. He recorded a 0.63 WPA in the first half of this season, which would be the second-best in his career. That’ll play in any generation.

Castro would have fit incredibly well on the 2008 Twins. Gardy could have hit Castro second and played him in a corner outfield spot or at shortstop. Castro would be hitting behind Denard Span, and Mauer and Morneau would be behind him in the lineup. The ideal leadoff man reaches base, Castro moves him over, and now the heart of the order can drive him in. However, it’s easy to imagine a 42.5 percent ground ball hitter like Castro with speed using the bouncy Metrodome turf to his advantage.

This is revisionist history, but imagine Castro holding down third base for Minnesota that season instead of Brian Buscher. Or Castro joining Span and Carlos Gomez in the outfield. Castro would be a perfect fit for some of those Metrodome teams in many of the same ways that he is a fit for the current Twins squad. He can run the bases, play every position, and be an above-average hitter with some clutch hitting. Castro would be a manager or fan favorite in any season.

Despite joining the organization as a non-roster invitee last year, Willi Castro developed into an All-Star who fans can get behind with his story and play style. His path to the mid-summer classic should remind fans that Castro is a good fit for more than just the 2024 Twins in the Baldelli era. He’s the textbook definition of what a Minnesota Twins player should be on the field.