Nelson Castro

Nelson Daniel Castro

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 200 lb.

• Born June 4, 1976 in Monte Cristi, Monte Cristi D.R.

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Nelson Castro played in the minor leagues and CPBL.

Castro was signed by the California Angels in 1994, and he hit .195/.306/.221 for the AZL Angels in his first year. He struggled again as his batting line was .204/.327/.307 in 1996, then he recorded a .294/.381/.427 batting line with the Boise Hawks in 1997. Castro then played for the Lake Elsinore Storm in the next two seasons, and he hit .234/.301/.323 and .250/.308/.347 respectively. He was 4th in the California League in steals in 1998 (36, between Anton French and Junior Spivey) and leading in 1999 with 53. In 1999, he also led Cal League shortstops in assists (370), double plays (74) and fielding percentage (.962). He and Alex Cintron tied for All-Star shortstop honors after the season. He went to the San Francisco Giants system in 2000 after the Angels put him on waivers, and he hit .284/.336/.445 with 5 homers for the Bakersfield Blaze. He also had 67 appearances for AAA Fresno Grizzlies with a .254/.293/.361 batting line in the same season.

Staying at the AA level in the 2001 season, Castro crushed 11 homers with a .297/.359/.447 batting line for the Shreveport Swamp Dragons. He also collected 38 stolen bases, and he led the Texas League in swipes (1 ahead of Jacques Landry). He also paced the league's shortstops in putouts (207), assists (373) and errors (32). Castro then batted .223/.269/.370 in 2002, and his batting line fell to .181/.210/.298 in Fresno. He had a .222/.310/.254 batting line with the Portland Sea Dogs of the Boston Red Sox in 2003 before he was released in midseason, and he also hit .141/.189/.294 with the Vero Beach Dodgers. Castro stayed in the Dodgers system in 2004, and he hit .243/.303/.378 with 11 homers for the Jacksonville Suns. The Chinatrust Whales of the CPBL signed him in 2005, and he had a .250/.314/.389 batting line with 6 steals.

He then played for the Calgary Vipers of the Northern League for 4 years. The veteran hit .257/.298/.395 in 2006, fielding .965 at SS. He improved to .323/.365/.464 with 38 doubles in 2007. He led the loop in doubles, two ahead of Fehlandt Lentini. His batting line was even better at .336/.401/.522 in 2008. In his final summer season, he hit .410/.460/.647 with 80 runs, 81 RBI, 33 steals in 43 tries and 10 triples for the 2009 Vipers, reaching double-digits in all three extra-base hit categories. He won the batting title (.034 ahead of #2 Colin Moro), was second in runs (18 behind Lentini), led in hits (123, one ahead of Lentini), led in triples (by four), tied for 7th in homers (11), tied Sergio Pedroza for 3rd in RBI, tied Lentini for the most swipes, was 3rd in OBP, led in slugging (.041 ahead of A.J. Valentine) and led in OPS. He was the All-Star shortstop and the league MVP.

Sources=

• 2000 Baseball Almanac, pg. 280
• 2002 Baseball Almanac, pg. 312
• 2010 Baseball Almanac, pg. 412
• Taiwan Baseball Wiki