ST. LOUIS -- Among the jewelry Rodolfo Castro has in his rotation of what he wears onto the field for a game is a necklace with a Superman pendant at the end encrusted with diamonds. He's a fan of the Man of Steel, and has been ever since he first watched the cartoons.
"He's been my superhero ever since I've been a kid," Castro said via interpreter Stephen Morales, the two Pirates smiling like they were kids who had just cracked open a new issue of Action Comics. "When it comes to superheroes, he's the biggest one."
There have been times where Castro looked like Superman out on the baseball diamond. His first five big-league hits were all home runs. He's made highlight reel catches, launched home runs and made big plays on the base paths. There have also been times where he pressed and tried to create something out of nothing, often to detrimental results.
He definitely showed shades of Superman Saturday at Busch Stadium, tying the game in the eighth with a double and picking up another RBI in the 10th as part of his three-hit day in the Pirates' 6-3 win over the Cardinals. But those heroics and his recent hot streak have come mainly because he's learned that he doesn't need to be faster than a speeding bullet or more powerful than a locomotive.
He just needs to be Rudy Castro.
“It helps a lot that I’m not going out there with the mentality of not being the hero every at-bat," Castro said. "Just take good pitches, good ABs and help the team that way.”
He's been doing that a lot lately, boosting his batting average to .344 with a .962 OPS and five walks over his first 39 trips to the plate. Small sample size, sure, but considering he's cut his chase rate down to 25% -- compared to 38.4% his rookie year in 2021 -- it's clear he's made major strides.
“With Rudy’s toolset and his physical talent, it’s really about the at-bat quality and navigating at-bats and staying in the zone," Andy Haines said. "It’s showing up in his performance.”
It also helps that he's found his swing again. Castro entered spring training in an activate competition for the second base job. He did not do well, struggling to find his swing and making mechanical changes to his base that were not ironed out by the time the regular season came. He made the opening day team, but Ji Hwan Bae got the majority of the playing time at second base to start the year.
"I’m finding myself in a good spot, both sides of the plate," Castro said. "I think I’m heading in the right direction.”
Now he's got that everyday opportunity. Mainly because he's replacing his friend and perhaps the player most would consider the true son of Krypton, Oneil Cruz.
Castro is the first choice at shortstop while Cruz is on the mend these next four months from his left ankle surgery. He played the position plenty when coming up through the minors, but he's profiled best at third or second base.
But if Cruz is out, one of his best friend's is next on the depth chart.
“Just keep it simple," infield coach Mendy Lopez told me about how the team is working Castro at shortstop. "We have to be able to position him in the right spot and take care of those. That’s what we ask of him. Of course he’s not Oneil Cruz, but I think he can do it. If Oneil’s not here, he’s the right guy to do it.”
And by positioning, they mean pre-pitch. Derek Shelton's expectations are simple: Just catch the ball. Do in the field what he's doing at the dish.
“He has to be good at fielding the ball because he doesn’t have that much range," Lopez said. "That’s my job to have him in the right spot. He’s doing a really good job checking in and watching me [for those spots].”
Positioning is something that's usually pretty new between major-league shortstop and what is played in the lower minors. You can't just be more athletic to your competition. If you're not fundamentally sound, it will bite you.
So far, Castro has had a few miscues, but they're being used as teaching moments to learn arguably the most vital defensive position.
"Playing shortstop in the big leagues helped me realize that every little thing matters when it comes to playing that position,” Castro said.
Castro and Cruz have talked throughout the week since Cruz's surgery, but not about baseball. Checking in, making sure his friend is in a good place after getting the news he will miss the majority of the season.
You know, being Rudy.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Ok, if anyone was Superman in this one, it was Andrew McCutchen hitting the go-ahead homer in the 10th. And because of the runner on second rule, that was the first two-run leadoff homer in team history.
I covered this in the Freeze Frame.
• Roansy Contreras' day certainly got off to a tough start, allowing two runs in the first inning after the Cardinals strung together three hits, all with a sub-30% expected hit percentage, going by Baseball Savant's data. But he was able to rebound from there, not allowing another run over his six innings of work while striking out a half dozen, the final three coming in a 10 pitch sixth inning.
Those strikeouts came, he said, because he was feeding off the team's energy.
"It helps that the team continued to fight," Contreras said, via Morales. "That's fuel for any pitcher, just to go out there and continue to compete because the guys behind you are giving you their 100%."
"I thought he bounced back really well. The fourth, fifth and sixth were kind of like [Johan Oviedo] yesterday," Derek Shelton said. "He was really efficient, was able to control the zone, was able to execute pitches behind in the count. He did a really nice job."
And for those keeping track, that's now five straight starts by the Pirates where the starter went at least six innings and allowed no more than two runs. After a shaky first couple trips through the rotation, they have been much stronger of late.
• There's been a couple games this year where the Pirates won, but this reporter can't help but think that they probably would have lost last year. It's a better bunch of players, and perhaps more importantly, a more confident group.
"You can struggle all you wanna struggle, but there ain’t one person out there in those stands who feels bad for you," McCutchen said. "You gotta let them know, ‘Don’t feel bad for yourself. Show up. Let’s get to work. Let’s get this thing rolling.’ You may not do something offensively, but you can do something defensively that changes the game. Be in the game every single day. You can’t chase hits. We just chase getting the job done as much as we can. Those are the type of words I try to deliver at times when they need ‘em. It’s beneficial. I think with this team being who they are, being a younger team, with some vets in there, too. I just think it’s big.
"Those are the times where you need guys like me and [Carlos] Santana and whoever else to pick ‘em up and say, ‘Hey, I know it’s going a way we don’t want it to, but we’re gonna get through it.’ It’s a good mix of guys."
• Before the game, the Pirates placed Ji-Man Choi on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to April 14) with a strain of the left Achilles tendon. Choi was a late scratch before Friday's game and said afterwards he was going to see where he was health wise in the morning.
Taking his place on the roster is Tucupita Marcano, who had been tearing up Class AAA Indianapolis with a .422/.458/.689 slash line in his 11 games there. He entered as a pinch-hitter Saturday and went 0-for-2 with a strikeout and a double play.
• Happy Jackie Robinson day. I'll give Cutch and Ke'Bryan Hayes the floor on what the day means:
"It’s everything," Hayes said. "If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here today, being able to play this game. Each and every day, for me, is like a Jackie Robinson Day. Definitely being able to suit up with that 42 is very special. I don’t take it for granted."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: 1B Ji-Man Choi (achilles)
• 15-day injured list: RHP Chase De Jong (lumbar spine)
• 60-day injured list: RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Connor Joe, RF
6. Rodolfo Castro, SS
7. Mark Mathias, 2B
8. Ji Hwan Bae, CF
9. Jason Delay, C
And for Oliver Marmol's Cardinals:
1. Brendan Donovan, 1B
2. Alec Burleson, LF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, DH
4. Nolaln Arenado, 3B
5. Nolan Gorman, DH
6. Jordan Walker, RF
7. Lars Nootbaar, CF
8. Tommy Edman, SS
9. Andrew Knizner, C
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will wrap the series Sunday when Mitch Keller (1-0, 3.57) takes on Miles Mikolas (0-1, 10.05). First pitch is set for 2:15 p.m. Eastern. I'll have you covered and then hop a plane to Denver.
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