Every week we're going to profile one player from the Phillies' system. You all know about D-Brown, now let's find out about the rest...
Position: OF
Ht: 5-11 Wt: 175
Drafted: Undrafted
Hometown: La Romana, DR
Opening Day Age: 20
Skills: Athletic. Plus speed, quick bat, solid pop. Erratic in all phases.
John Sickels' Grade: C+
Organizational Ranking: 19th
Not a whole lot is known about this guy, but Sickels seems to believe he could become a top-10 organizational prospect with his tools. A typical Philly prospect, Castro seems to be athletic in all phases of the game. Unfortunately, his skills are raw and this year will be an interesting one.
Castro started signed out of the DR as an undrafted international free agent, and spent 2007 in the Dominican Summer League. He demonstrated solid power (6 HRs) and speed (24 SBs) in 223 ABs. In 2008, he joined Clearwater and maintained a similar slugging percentage, however it came at the cost of drawing walks (which he did quite well in the DOSL).
In 2009, Castro was promoted to Lakewood but struggled mightily. His demotion to the New York Penn League proved to be worthwhile, as he produced a slash line of .316/.351/.512 in 256 ABs. He also stole 18 bases, but with only a 67% success rate. The slugging percentage was a product of a spread-out distribution of his extra-base hits (19 2B, 5 3B, 7 HR), which is encouraging if his raw power can develop. His power potential is real and has the chance to get better if those doubles turn into dingers as he matures.
This year, Castro has started back up in Lakewood and is performing well. After hitting .152 in 74 PAs last year, the wiley outfielder has gotten off to a .306/.342/.472 slash. I'd like to see him walk a little more as he only has 7 in 124 PAs, but his strikeouts are reasonable with only 17. So he's a hacker. And he seems to be running a lot, as he has 6 SBs - problem is he's been caught 7 times!
Leandro is an exciting talent for sure. He's right on schedule at High-A, but not necessarily ahead of it. He's playing left field this year (Jiwan James has been manning center - another toolsy prospect), which hurts him going forward. He needs to learn center if he's going to boost his Jacque Jonesean value. The stolen bases also worry me. I'd like to see his rate continue to get better. Unfortunately, over the last few years it has gotten progressively worse.
It's always nice to follow these type of guys. Castro's bat seems to be coming along nicely, but he needs to make himself more viable in the field and on the basepaths before we can get too excited.
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