Castillo's hitting streak

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Posted By: Tom D.

I thought the guys on ESPN said it right. Maybe I am just used to the right pronunciation though and thought they said it right.

I don't think Castillo will break Joe D.'s hit streak though. If he gets a week away, there will be so much pressure on him by the media. Hitting is such a mental game. He will crack.

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Posted By: jay behrens 

Anyone else annoyed by the fact that not one news or sports caster has yet to pronounce RogerS Hornsby's name correctly?

Jay

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Posted By: MW

But for a different reason. The closer he get to the record, the more each pitcher will want to be the one who "shuts him out." The closer he gets, the fewer good pitches he'll see.

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

I agree with MW.

I guess the next big hit streak will come from Ichiro.
The little guy can hit and he has amazing speed not to mention how hard is to K him!

Is batting almost .370 this season.

Can this guy post a .400 season?

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Posted By: jay behrens

.400 prolly isn't out of the question for Ichiro. If you have ever watched his batting style closely it's amazing that he even gets hits, but is quite effective anyway. He almost a full step down the first base line by the time he makes contact with the ball.

Jay

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

and .400, and I thought "Rogers" was
pronounced "Roger" with an 's" at the end.

Nu?

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Posted By: jay behrens

Julie, youa re correct, but everyone on TV that I have heard use the name always forgets the 'S'.

Jay

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Posted By: TBob

Castillo doesn't even know the names of his teammates, much less who the hell Joe D. was. They say his baseball IQ is about 35 and he doesn't have a clue about the streak. So, the pressure probably won't mean a thing to him.

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Posted By: rmacpa

castillo, a latin player who is not comfortable speaking english, did not know the name of fellow marlin kevin millar, a utility man who speaks no spanish. it's not likely the two had coversed with one another during the three years they were teammates. castillo, who is relatively unfamiliar with the history of baseball is well aware of the significance of the hitting streak. in terms of baseball iq, i would say its quite apparent that he knows how to not only get on base, but steal bases well enough to be considered one of the two best leadoff hitters currently playing.

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

I'm sure he doesn't know who's Joe D, but I'm also sure that he has pressure... and maybe even more than most american players have had in the past.

He needs to prove many things, latin players need to work harder than americans to reach the big leagues, then have to play harder to stay...

Everybody remembers Joe D's streak record, but how many remember Molitor's?

Everytime he goes to the plate, he has a whole country behind him...and I mean WHOLE!
His hits will help many poor kids develop baseball skills, more scouts going over there, many, many things.
Even if he comes short, he'll be a HERO there.

For example, Sammy Sosa came short to Big Macs record, but he was able to find an Oil supply contract for the Dominican Republic at a very low price (from Venezuela), just because he send some balls over the fence... He became the best ambassador that country could have hoped!

Don't think Sosa knew much about Aaron or Ruth before 1998.

Shame on those Baseball writers!

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

Ryan

1333 foreign players have reached the majors in the history of the game.
That's 300 short of players from California (1664)and almost the same number from Pennsylvania born players (1293).

http://baseball-reference.com/bio/

I have two friends that play Major League ball, Wilson Alvarez and Geremi Gonzalez (Both Venezuelans).
They left their country, family and even their usual meals to play baseball and earn good money to raise their kids.

According to them, and many others I've read from, there's a "little secret" when Latin American players start playing in the minors.

They have to play better, harder and not get into trouble. (The usual misconception about all Latin Players being rude, drinkers, gamblers........)
In the minors, managers and coaches keep telling them that their places can be taken by any US born player cause it would be "cheaper" for the org.

How can a player that learned to play baseball using a broom stick as a bat and bottle caps as baseballs cause his country !@#$ government didn't have the time to open a small baseball school or little league park, or that he didn't finish school to start working for little money to help the family could know who the hell was Joe D.?

It's amazing that only 134 Venezuelans have played MLB in more than 60 years since the first one played (Alex Carrasquel - WAS).

Maybe someday I could bring one of my friends to the chatroom and discuss this subject.

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

Jaime,

Why would Latin American players have to work harder to get into the Majors? I think I can sort of see what you might be trying to say, but what I really don't get is how they would have to play harder than americans to stay? Would you mind elaborating on that?

It would seem to me that once you are in the Major Leagues you will have to play at a Major League level. Some might not have to work as hard as others due to raw talent. Others might have to take extra bp and field grounders for hours longer every day. Both will have to play at a Major League level to stay in the Majors. But where do Latin Americans fit into this?

Also, I don't think Castillo will break Dimaggio's streak simply because even at 34 games now he still needs a 22 game hitting streak just to tie! 22 games is a nice streak in itself.

Castillo is just about the only style of hitter (like Ichiro) who has even a remote chance at Joe D's record. It makes the 56 games look even more impressive. Here's a revealing stat:

Joe DiMaggio had nearly twice as many home runs (15) during his 56-game streak as Castillo has hit in his entire career (8)!!!!!!!!!!!!


-Ryan

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

Jamie,

If you consider the fact that the Major Leagues are not a Venezuelan league but an American one (and Canada) then why should there even be as many Venezuelans or Dominicans or Puerto Ricans as there are? Because they are good players! That's why. I don't mean that Venezuelans or Dominicans or Puerto Ricans are good players per se; I mean, for example, that Pedro Martinez is a great player who is also Dominican. He is not in the Majors because he is Dominican, he was not excluded from the Majors because he is Dominican, he is in the Majors because he is an incredible pitcher. Period.

Based on your numbers, 1 in every 10 players that have ever played in the Majors were not American. Are you saying that is too few? If so, why?

To draw a similar parallel, are there too few caucasians in the NBA? Is it harder to get to and stay in the NBA if you are white? Or, are there simply fewer caucasians who can play NBA-caliber basketball? If we used population numbers, only 12.3% of players in the NBA would be African-American. 75% would be white.

Again, I sort of see what you are saying about the minors and what you shared about the experiences of your friends. But you still didn't answer my question about why it would be harder for someone of Latin American descent to stay in the Majors? I'm not trying to belabor the issue, but I am genuinely interested to hear your explanation.

Are you saying that you think the Major Leagues are prejudiced against Latin Americans? If this is what you are saying I guess I'd like you to just say it. That way it can be discussed. If it's not what you're saying maybe you could state that as well.

Thanks for your post. I found it interesting.

-Ryan

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Posted By: FourBaseHits

Ryan

Thanks for keeping up the nice discussion.

You said: "Are you saying that you think the Major Leagues are prejudiced against Latin Americans? If this is what you are saying I guess I'd like you to just say it."

My answer: Yes!

Didn't want to use that word (Prejudiced) before, because all the problems that have arised in the near past on the board between other members when talking about racism or religion...

Give me some time to find some player interviews on which they talk about prejudice.

I Promise not to bring up a Ruben Rivera's interview talking about prejudice after stealing Jeter's glove and bat and selling them for $2k, while he was riding a $1Million contract...

That kind of behavior from one or two guys ( maybe 3... ) is the one that hurt many young LATAM players future in Pro Baseball.

jl

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Posted By: MW

I agree with Jaime on this issue. Given any two baseball players with the same skill level, one Caucasian, one Latin American, one clearly has a tougher path to the major leagues than the other. Prejudice is only one factor among many.

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Posted By: Connor Ciallella

I agree Jay it is very low of them not to say his name the correct way being such a great player and underated as he is.







connor

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Posted By: jay behrens

DiMaggio's streak is an amazing thing. But at the same time, it's an abosulte freak record on apar the Nuxhall's back to back no hitters. If I remember correctly, DiMaggion only had one other hitting streak over 20 games and that was immediately following the 56 games. The next longest is 44 games by Rose. Another expample is players like Hugh Duffy batting .438 and getting anywhere close to the record.

MAybe some day when I get ambitious I will run the numbers to see that the standard deviation of hits per game is for DiMaggio and other great hitters. You would think that Cobb would have had more numerous long hitting streaks.

Jay

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

Jay,

DiMaggio also had a 61 game hitting streak in the minors. I think his streak after the 56 games ended was something like 16 games, giving him 72 of 73 games. Not sure if that is exact, but it's close to that.

-Ryan

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Posted By: scott

Very enjoyable description of the entire season, focusing on Williams and Dimaggio's accomplishments.

It does a great job of describing how people at that time viewed these events, as opposed to our own view looking back on it. When you're living through something it's hard to put it in historical perspective.

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Posted By: Tom

his age entering the league..........Johnny Vander Meer had the back to back no hitters........which was almost equalled by teammate Ewell Blackwell........

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Posted By: Dr.Koos

The most amazing thing about DiMag, besides being the #1 factor of his TEAM winning year after year for 14 years is that he was a power hitter as well! Joe D. homered almost the same amount of times as he struck out. He played for only 14 years yet managed to compile 360+ homers as a RIGHT hand hitter playing half his games in a stadium with a 457 FOOT POWER ALLEY! There were many greats in his playing days, but of them, Joe D. was least likely to succumb to a "September snooze".

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

Robin had one of baseball's top amateur careers at Oklahoma State University. He won numerous Player-of-the-Year awards and garnered national publicity for his 58-game hitting streak as a sophomore.

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Posted By: TBob

or anyone else for that matter. Dosn't matter if he is Hispanic, White, Black, Yellow, Red, Green or Purple, I want to see the record stand. I had the opportunity to meet Joe DiMaggio in the early 1980's and he and my daughter's picture appeared on the front page of the Kansas City Star. Joe D. was gracious, polite and totally opposite the way he has now been depicted in all the tell-all books. Sure he had his failings, don't we all, and yes he got cranky and was a little paranoid in his later years, but he was a complex man who grew up in a different era.
I hated to see Gehrig's record broken by Ripken and I will hate to see Joe's broken also. The record is now THE record, not Cy Young's, not Barry Bonds', not Hank Aaron's, not Nolan Ryan's, not Cal Ripken's, not Ty Cobb's. Those are all outstanding records set by great players. But the streak is a special record, set in a special time by a special player. DiMaggio was once asked at the close of his career, after legging a single in to a double in a lost game, why he did it, why he tried so hard. Joe said, "because there might be one fan here today who has never seen Joe DiMaggio play." He he was vain, and cocky, but he was special, and so is the streak.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

Yes, have been waiting for about 15 posts to say Nuxall was youngest player in the majors, Johnny van der Meer pitched the back-to-bcks.

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Posted By: Jaime Leiderman

From Yahoo Sports news...

"...Castillo was one of the last Marlins to leave the stadium following the end of his streak.

He was one of the first ones to arrive Sunday -- still disappointed with the streak's end but relieved that the pressures of chasing DiMaggio's mark are over.

``I want to forget about everything,'' Castillo said. ``I know now I'm going to be more relaxed.''

Castillo was out of the starting lineup for the series finale against Detroit, given the day off after briefly capturing the nation's attention with the longest hitting streak in 15 years.

``Nobody can imagine, unless you're in that position, the pressure,'' manager Jeff Torborg said.

When Castillo got home Saturday night, he refused to watch television, wanting to avoid replays of the streak's end. He didn't sleep well, either. And he was still down a day later.

``I like seeing the fans like that,'' he said, referring to the standing ovations before each at-bat. ``They wanted to see it keep going. I wanted to do everything I could to make the fans happy.''

Castillo has always had high expectations for himself. This is the same player who tried to fine himself two years ago after failing to put down a sacrifice bunt. After the game against Cincinnati, Castillo grabbed a fistful of money from his locker, walked into manager John Boles' office and threw the cash on the desk.

Castillo had two hits and three stolen bases in the game, but none of that mattered. He wanted to pay for the botched bunt, but Boles refused to take the money.

He put even more pressure on himself during the streak. He said it really started to build when the streak reached the mid-20s. He was having trouble sleeping, thinking so much about the upcoming game.

``I couldn't wait to get to the ballpark,'' he said.

Now he can't wait to start another streak. This time, he has a better appreciation of how difficult it would be to match DiMaggio's mark.

``I don't know how he did it,'' Castillo said."


So this is Castillo, the low Baseball IQ guy...

I don't know sh*t about baseball IQ but can't imagine a guy like Barry Bonds fining himself after failing...