Starlin Castro was called up by the Chicago Cubs on Friday and he is expected to immediately take over the starting job at shortstop. The Cubs are in a freefall having just been swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates and badly need some help. The Cubs are below .500 and the baseball betting season is already starting to slip away.
Starlin Castro is considered a future star for the Cubs. He was signed as a non-drafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic a few years ago. Castro will be making the move to the Major Leagues going right past Triple A as he was hitting .376 for Double-A Tennessee with one home run, eight doubles, five triples and 20 RBIs. The Cubs are sending Chad Tracy down to Triple-A Iowa to make room on the roster for Starlin Castro.
The move to call up Starlin Castro was not totally unexpected but it was early. The Cubs wanted to give their top prospect more time at the minor baseball betting league level.With the team floundering in fourth place in the National League Central, the front office believed that they didn’t have any more time to wait. Starlin Castro will take over the starting job at shortstop and Ryan Theriot will move to second base. Castro is a very good defensive shortstop with excellent range and a strong arm. He should improve the Cubs defensively and he might give their offense a jolt as well.
Starlin Castro hit .302 at Class A Daytona and .288 at Tennessee last year plus he hit .376 in the Arizona Fall League. In Spring Training he was very impressive but the Cubs still didn’t want to rush him to the majors. In fact, just over a week ago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was saying that the team wanted to wait to call up their top prospect. “He’s swinging the bat well and working on all the nuances that will make him successful when he gets here,” Hendry said, “I don’t have any doubts you’ll see him in Chicago this baseball betting season but to put an exact date on it would be foolish.”
The Cubs also wanted to give Theriot more time to get ready for his move to second base. “You just want to give [Theriot] enough notice to help him get ready for that when that day comes,” Hendry said, “Ryan is capable of being a .300 hitter and a very good infielder when he does move.”
