After smashing start, Pirates rookie 2B Rodolfo Castro struggles

Derek Shelton never considered benching Rodolfo Castro for his baserunning blunder against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. Instead, the Pittsburgh Pirates manager treated it as a teaching moment.

When Castro failed to tag up at third on a Hoy Park lineout to left field, Shelton didn’t hesitate to note that the mistake cost the Pirates a run in their 2-1 loss to the Dodgers.

“That’s one of the things that we talk about where development still happens at the major-league level,” Shelton said. “Rudy can’t take a extra couple of steps to see where that ball was. There’s air underneath it. He has to try to tag.”

Yet Castro was in the starting lineup at second base again Tuesday night, and Shelton said he didn’t give a second thought to punishing the rookie infielder for what was considered a Little League gaffe.

“No, not (starting him) to send a message, in my mind, has no purpose whatsoever,” Shelton said. “We’re looking at a 22-year-old kid that made a mistake. It’s part of his development. Anything that’s punitive like that, I think that’s not the right thing to do.”

Shelton credited Castro for how he “grinded through” an 11-pitch at-bat to get a single in the seventh after Gregory Polanco was hit by a pitch. Castro, however, canceled the positive with the negative play on the bases, then went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in the 4-3 loss Tuesday.

“This is a kid that has spent most of his baseball career in A-ball and Double-A, and he’s still learning here,” Shelton said. “So we sat down with him, showed him the play and talked to him about it and just talked to him about the game situation.”

Castro made a big jump after the Pirates promoted him from Double-A Altoona after trading All-Star second baseman Adam Frazier to San Diego on July 25. Castro made major-league history when he became the first player whose first five hits all went for home runs, including two against Milwaukee on July 28 at PNC Park.

In the 19 games since, however, Castro is batting .186 (11 for 59) with two doubles and one RBI. He has struck out in nine of his past 13 at-bats, including four Sunday against Milwaukee and twice each in the two games against the Dodgers.

The Pirates have big shoes to fill at the position, where Frazier was a two-time Gold Glove finalist and a starter for the National League in the All-Star Game after leading the majors in hits in the first half. Frazier had only five errors in 94 games at second base for the Pirates this season; Castro has three errors in 27 games.

The Pirates aren’t counting too heavily on Castro, as they have added several infielders with major-league experience in trades. Park has played second base, shortstop and all three outfield positions since coming in a trade from the New York Yankees. Michael Chavis, a former first-round pick acquired from Boston, has played first, second and third for Triple-A Indianapolis. And Tucupita Marcano, acquired from San Diego, is a top-10 prospect who can play second base or in the outfield.

So it’s fair to wonder whether the Pirates will send Castro back to the minors for more seasoning or continue to groom him in the majors.

“He’s learning on the fly,” Shelton said of Castro. “There’s things that he’s doing better defensively. Hitting in the big leagues is hard, and it’s something that we have to continue to work on. The zone management is one of the challenging things for a young hitter. You get a couple balls that he thinks are off the plate, all of a sudden he gets a little bit too aggressive and starts swinging at some pitches that he shouldn’t have.”