Scouting Profile: Harold Castro

Continuing with our theme of providing our readers with scouting reports, I wanted to bring you one of the faster rising prospects in the Tigers system. Harold Castro may have missed our top 50, but there is no reason not to keep an eye on him in 2012.

It is difficult to get real accurate information on Castro, as he hasn’t played stateside yet, but because he is a fast riser, I wanted to get a scouting report up with what I do have on him.

Without further delay……

Background:

Harold Castro is a young infield prospect that was signed out of Caracas, Venezuela by the Tigers. Just two days ago, Castro had his 18th birthday on November 30th. A left-handed hitter, Castro spent his first season in the Tigers organization playing in the Venezuelan Summer League. It was a very successful first season for Castro. Castro posted a BA of .313 for the VSL Tigers with an OBP of .352 and OPS of .717. Castro had 272 plate appearances this past summer and struck out in only 21 of those appearances, however he only walked 11 of them. Castro only hit one home run and had 10 doubles. Castro stole 24 bases in 31 attempts as well.

Scouting Report:

Castro is currently a 6’0 and 145 lb middle infielder. At this point in his career, he could end up at multiple positions, but my best guess is 2nd base is going to be his ultimate home. His frame is somewhat reminiscent of Tigers prospect Dixon Machado, but there is a little bit of ability for Castro to add some strength.

Castro’s main asset at this point is that he does have the ability to potentially hit for average in the future. Castro has a nice idea of the strike zone, if not a little over aggressive at times. He is more of a slap hitter at this point, and uses the opposite field and the middle of the field to good effect. He has good hand-eye coordination, and that coupled with a little more patience will serve him well.

Castro is a good base runner for his age, and has above average speed. While he does have good straight line speed, he is going to have to continue to work on jumps, and over time his instincts are going to need to be better. I don’t see the power developing much beyond gap power, but that might work well with the type of hitter he is anyway.

Defensively, he has a little ways to go, but the tools are there to be successful. As a 2nd baseman, he has the potential for plus range, however, I see his arm as just being average. His athletic ability should help him in turning the double play at the bag. I haven’t heard anything about his hands at this point, but he did make 15 errors. Errors really aren’t all that important at this point in a players development, so they could be the result of a multitude of things.

Outlook:

As I mentioned at the outset, Castro is a guy that bears watching. His strikeout rate, and ability to make solid contact suggest a guy that could hit for average. With this speed he could get his slugging from doubles and triples, despite lacking power at this point. It is way too early to project anything for Castro, and after a little bit of stateside information, we should have a better grasp on that.

I believe we will see Castro in the states for 2012, so we should be able to get our first look at him over the summer.