Vinny Castilla
| Vinny Castilla | |||
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Castilla with the San Diego Padres
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| Colorado Rockies – No. 9 | |||
| Third baseman/Coach | |||
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Born: July 4, 1967 Oaxaca, Mexico |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 1, 1991, for the Atlanta Braves | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 28, 2006, for the Colorado Rockies | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .276 | ||
| Home runs | 320 | ||
| Runs batted in | 1,105 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Vinicio "Vinny" Castilla Soria (Spanish pronunciation: [kasˈtiʎa]; born July 4, 1967) is a Mexican-born former Major League Baseball third baseman who played his best years with the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta Braves. Previously, he played with the Atlanta Braves (1991–1992, 2002–2003), Colorado Rockies (1993–1999, 2004, 2006), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2000–2001), Houston Astros (2001), Washington Nationals (2005), and San Diego Padres (2006).
The Atlanta Braves purchased Castilla's contract from the Saltillo club out of the Mexican League in 1990. He made his MLB debut as a shortstop for the Braves on September 9, 1991. For the 1992 season he only appeared in 9 games.
In November 1992 he was selected by the Rockies in the expansion draft. For the 1993 season he played regularly hitting 9 home runs and 9 triples (8th in the league) in 105 games as a shortstop. In 1994 his playing time was reduced mainly due to the acquisition of shortstop Walt Weiss and the 1994-95 Major League Baseball strike. Castilla only saw action in 52 games, playing all four positions in the infield.
After the departure of starting third baseman Charlie Hayes, Castilla was the leading candidate to man third base for the 1995 season. This, along with the help of manager Don Baylor, was the turning point on Castllas's career, hitting .319 with 17 home runs and 48 runs batted in by the All Star break, earning him a backup spot in the All Star team. He was later named the starting third baseman for the NL after Matt Williams was out with an injury. He finished the season with a .309 batting average, 32 home runs and 90 RBIs. In the NLDS against Atlanta he hit .467 with 3 home runs. Many considered Castilla's numbers to be a fluke, mainly because of playing at the friendly confines of a thin-air Denver stadium, a stigma that would follow Vinny for most of his Colorado career. However, in 1996 he surpassed his numbers from the previous year, his 40th home run came on the last game of the season, he finished the year hitting .304 with 40 home runs, including 2 Grand Slams for a total of 113 RBIs. For the 1997 season he would have exactly the same totals of home runs, RBIs and batting average (40-113-.304) as well as 3 multi-homer games on the year.
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