NEWSLETTER
Starlin Castro had an interesting game last night in the field and at the plate against the Marlins, making another error on a routine grounder (he’s up to 12 on the season, a year after having just 15) and striking out in one of his four plate appearances.
But only the most negative of observers would linger too long on either of those things, because Castro also did something great in the field and at the plate.
In the field, Castro made this very nice over-the-shoulder catch, complete with a meme-able smile and arm lift from the ground:
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At the plate, Castro took a hanging breaking ball over the middle way, way out to left. The video isn’t embeddable right now, so you can watch it here. The homer is notable for a number of reasons: it was a 427-foot blast, according to Statcast, and it was Castro’s first homer since May 8. It was only his second extra-base hit since May 12.
But perhaps the most notable part of the homer was how Castro savored it. Not only did Castro stare the blast down, but he also took his time rounding the bases – a full 30 seconds, up there among the slowest trots on record. If you hit one 427 feet, you can do what you want, too.
And it really, really bothered … St. Louis Cardinals fans. You can see the results here at the Baseball’s Best Fans Twitter account, which simply retweets the things that the many BFIB (best fans in baseball) choose to tweet out into the world.
In response, Randall J. Sanders put his editing skills to work:
And now, here's something we hope you'll really like pic.twitter.com/sYa80ya7CK
— Randall J. Sanders (@RandallJSanders) June 2, 2015
All in good fun.
But, now, more seriously, hopefully the move down in the order to 6th will help Castro shake off his current slump, either by allowing him to relax or by changing his mindset at the plate (or both).
