I’m all for switch hitting, but only if you can, you know, hit from both sides of the plate.
I’m also a big Rodolfo Castro fan, but only when he’s batting right-handed. It seems I have some company in Pirates manager Derek Shelton, who has basically buried Castro from the left side — and for good reason.
So far in his brief major league career, Castro is batting .203 with a .603 OPS (combined on-base and slugging percentages) as a leftie and .278 with a .944 OPS as a righty. I could bore you with more numbers. Suffice to say, Castro hits for way more power and strikes out way less as a right-hander. This season, he is basically Mike Trout as a righty and unusable as a leftie.
OK, I’ll bore you with more numbers: Batting right-handed, Castro is hitting .310 with four home runs and a 1.067 OPS in just 42 at-bats. As a lefty, those numbers shrink to .211, .574, zero in 57 at-bats. He’s hitting .194 against right-handed starters, and the trend is not new.
Last season at Triple-A, Castro batted 60 points higher as a righty.
The question now is, what should the Pirates do?
What should Castro do?
Perhaps the case of Baltimore Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins would be instructive. You might recognize the name. He hit for the cycle against the Pirates six days ago. He used to be a switch hitter. Now he bats exclusively left-handed.
According to a story at MLB.com, it was Mullins who first broached the one-way-only idea. The Orioles finally agreed.
As the story goes, from spring training two years ago:
“The Orioles and Mullins have decided the speedy center fielder will hit only left-handed going forward, eschewing switch hitting after parts of three big-league seasons. Mullins is a career .251/.305/.394 hitter left-handed. He’s hit just .147/.250/.189 from the right side.”
This was Orioles manager Brandon Hyde: “It's something we've talked about for a few years. He actually brought it up to us in our first spring training here [in 2019], and then it was something he came to us about again. [The left is] obviously the side that he's a lot more comfortable hitting. He's had more success in the big leagues swinging the bat left-handed.”
That just makes sense. Mullins responded with a monster 2021 season. He tailed off a bit last season, but as we saw, he appears to be back on track.
Others have given up switch hitting, though the list is short. Orlando Merced went left-only for the Pirates several decades ago, at age 26. J.T. Snow did the same late in his career, as did former Seattle and Boston slugger Reggie Jefferson — who hit .317 with an .895 OPS after he quit switch hitting. Francisco Cervelli went exclusively right-handed in the minors, as did fellow longtime major leaguer Eduardo Nunez.
The problem for Castro — and the Pirates — is that they only face left-handed pitching about 30% of the time. So if he’s going to continue to sit against righties, he isn’t going to play much.
On the other hand, Nick Gonzales, the seventh overall pick of the 2020 draft (right-handed hitter), is displaying some serious reverse splits at Triple-A Indianapolis. Gonzales is hammering right-handed pitching and struggling against lefties (.924 OPS vs. righties, .525 vs. lefties). He is also heating up this month.
Are we looking at a possibly devastating second-base platoon for the Pirates? It’s an interesting thought.
In the meantime, Shelton has a decision to make. Can he afford to let Castro try to work through his issues batting left-handed, or does he continue to bench him against right-handers?
The Pirates aren’t in active tank mode anymore. They’re actually trying to win (although it hasn’t looked that way lately), so this should no longer be a minor league training ground disguised as a major league ball club.
Would Castro benefit from some time in the minors as a lefty-on-lefty hitter? Maybe, but again, he’s basically Mike Trout as a righty. It doesn’t seem wise to let that go. Maybe he could benefit from some time working righty-on-righty (this can get confusing, can't it?).
There is still hope from the left side. Two years ago in the minors, Castro was actually a little better (though not great) from the left side. And as the website rumbunter.com pointed out earlier this month, his line drive rate over his career actually was better as a lefty, for whatever that’s worth.
It’s a lot of work to maintain two swings, as opposed to one. Jefferson recalled to the Baltimore Sun how he finally had enough.
“It just got to the point where I was getting one at-bat every two weeks from the right side, and when I would get it, I would seem lost,” he said. “And I just felt like I was at the point where I had to establish myself in the big leagues. Then it just became more natural to me and you get used to doing it. It’s going to take you playing regularly to be able to make that transition.”
Yes, that’s the dilemma. For the Pirates, and for Castro.
Joe Starkey: jstarkey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @joestarkey1. Joe Starkey can be heard on the “Cook and Joe” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
First Published: May 18, 2023, 2:05 p.m.
Updated: May 19, 2023, 1:52 p.m.
