BIO

Starlin DeJesus Castro (born March 24, 1990) is a Dominican professional baseball second baseman for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball. He previously played for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. Castro is a four-time MLB All-Star and holds the record for most runs batted in in an MLB debut. In 2011, he led the National League in hits, becoming the youngest player to do so.

Professional career

Minor leagues

In 2009, Castro was named to the Florida State League All-Star team, and won MVP honors, going 4-for-4 with an inside-the-park home run in the game. He was also named All-Star Futures Game for the World Team. After the season, Castro was named the best prospect in Chicago's organization by Baseball America.

Chicago Cubs

2010

Castro was called up to the majors on May 7, 2010, from the Tennessee Smokies, the Cubs Double-A affiliate.

In his first major league at-bat, he hit a home run off of Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds. He became the sixth player in Cubs history and 106th player overall to do so. Later in the game he hit a triple with the bases loaded, setting the record for most runs batted in (RBIs) in a major league debut with six. He finished the game two for five in the Cubs' 14 to 7 win. Castro finished the season with a .300/.347/.408 line with three home runs and 41 RBIs in 463 at-bats over 125 games.

On October 19, 2010, Castro was named the shortstop on Baseball America's 2010 All-Rookie Team. He was also named the shortstop on the 2010 Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team. He finished tied for fifth in Rookie of the Year voting.

2011: All-Star season

2011 was Castro's first full season as a MLB player, and also marked his first All-Star Game selection, as he was one of three shortstops selected to the National League All-Star team. Castro was the youngest Chicago Cub player to make an All-Star team. Castro stole two bases in the All-Star Game despite having only one plate appearance, tying him for the most stolen bases in a single All-Star Game. The same day, Castro received Edward Jones Player of the Month Award honors. Castro was the National League Player of the Week twice during the 2011 season.

On September 23, 2011, Castro got his 200th base hit of the season, at Busch Stadium against the rival St. Louis Cardinals, and was the youngest member of the Cubs to ever do so.

Castro was the youngest player to ever lead the National League in hits, achieving the feat with his 207th hit of the season on September 28, 2011. Castro's game jersey was sent to the Hall of Fame, in a similar manner to his MLB debut's game jersey. His line for the 2011 season was .307/.341/.432, and it was the first season in which he hit double digit home runs (10). Overall, Castro finished the 2011 season with a .307 batting average, 10 home runs and 66 RBI. His 207 base hits and 674 at-bats both led the National League.

On defense, he led all major league shortstops in errors, with 29. He also had the lowest fielding percentage (.961).

2012: All-Star season

Castro was selected to the National League All-Star team along with teammate Bryan LaHair. Castro finished the 2012 season playing all 162 games with a .283 average, 14 homers, and 78 RBI. He was caught stealing 13 times which led the MLB. He also led the National League again with 646 at-bats.

2013

Castro had his worst year ending with a career low batting average of .245. He hit 10 home runs and had 44 RBIs, nine steals, and 2 triples while playing in 161 games.

2014: All-Star season

After a disappointing 2013, Castro was selected to appear in his third All-Star game along with teammate Anthony Rizzo in 2014. Unfortunately, Castro's All-Star year came to an early end when he was injured on September 2 when he awkwardly slid into home plate in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers. He did not return for the balance of the year and finished with a strong batting average of .292 with 14 home runs, 65 RBI's, 4 stolen bases, 33 doubles and 1 triple in 528 at bats.

Castro was the top hitting shortstop (for average) in the National League ahead of the Dodgers' Hanley Ramírez. On defense, he had only 15 errors and a fielding percentage of .973.

2015

Come the trade deadline, there was much speculation of a trade involving Castro. Potential deals might have involved him going to the Phillies or the Padres. Amid the speculation, Castro was told by manager Joe Maddon that he would not be traded.

With rookie Addison Russell taking over as the everyday shortstop, Castro made the switch to second base on August 12. On September 18, in an important game against the division leading Cardinals, Castro hit two home runs and matched his career high with six RBIs to lead the Cubs to an 8-3 win.

New York Yankees

On December 8, 2015, Castro was traded to the New York Yankees in exchange for pitcher Adam Warren and a player to be named later. On December 15, 2015, Brendan Ryan was also traded to the Cubs to finalize the transaction.

2016

On April 6, 2016, Castro had 5 RBI in a win over the Houston Astros, and he broke the franchise record for most RBI in the first two career games with the Yankees with 7, and the fourth player to get 7 RBI in the first two games in a season. On April 9, Castro recorded his 1000th career hit, in a win over the Detroit Tigers. On June 22, Castro hit his first ever walk-off home run in a 9-8 win over the Rockies. Castro finished the season with a .270 batting average and a career high 21 home runs and 70 RBI.

2017: All-Star season

On April 28, 2017, Castro hit a game tying 2-run home run in the 9th inning of an eventual 14–11 Yankees comeback win against the Baltimore Orioles. On June 27, he was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a hamstring injury. On July 22, he was again placed on the 10-day disabled list due to the same hamstring problem.

Miami Marlins

On December 11, 2017, Castro was traded to the Miami Marlins (along with Jorge Guzmán and José Devers) in exchange for outfielder Giancarlo Stanton and cash considerations.