Mets Acquire Castillo

Posted Monday, July 30, 2007

The Mets acquired second baseman Luis Castillo Monday night from the Minnesota Twins for two minor league players, catcher Drew Butera and outfielder Dustin Martin.

Castillo should settle into the number-two hole in the lineup, a good contact hitter from both sides of the plate — as well as meaning less playing time for Ruben Gotay who had taken over the position after Jose Valentin was sidelined with a broken bone earlier this month.

Castillo, 31, was hitting .304 (106-349) with 11 doubles, three triples, 18 RBIs, 29 walks, 28 strikeouts and nine stolen bases in 85 games with the Twins this season.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound switch-hitter is a three-time All-Star (2002, 2003, 2005) and a three-time Gold Glove Award recipient (2003, 2004, 2005).

Castillo had his 32-game hitting streak at Shea Stadium, the longest such streak in the 44-year history of the ballpark, snapped on June 18th earlier this year. The streak started on September 2, 2001. He has hit .293 (67-229) with five doubles, three triples, one home run and 17 RBIs in 61 career games at Shea Stadium.

Castillo has constructed a .294 (1,552-5,280) career batting average, 813 runs scored, 163 doubles, 51 triples, 23 home runs, 338 RBIs, 618 walks, 715 strikeouts and 315 stolen bases in 1,355 games with the Florida Marlins and Twins.

He was a member of the Marlins 2003 World Championship team. Castillo batted .314 (187-595) with 99 runs scored, 19 doubles, six triples, six home runs, 39 RBIs and 21 stolen bases in 152 games that season.

Castillo registered a career-high 49 RBI in 2006 with Minnesota while batting .296 (173-584) with 22 doubles.

Castillo led the majors in 2000 and 2002 with 62 and 48 stolen bases respectively. Luis also hit in a career-best 35 consecutive games, the sixth-longest streak in National League history, in 2002 with Florida.

Butera was hitting .258 (47-182) with 22 runs scored, 14 doubles, five home runs, 22 RBIs, 24 walks, 28 strikeouts in 52 games with Class A St. Lucie of the Florida State League.

Martin was batting .287 (104-363) with 52 runs scored, 22 doubles, six triples, five home runs, 52 RBIs, 42 walks, 93 strikeouts and 11 stolen bases in 93 contests with St. Lucie.