Willi Castro #50

Resides in Santo Domingo, DR in the offseason with his wife, Aniana Rosario Valdez, and their daughter, Arantxa...Participated in the Tigers Winter Caravan.

2021

Played in a career-high 125 games with the Tigers in 2021...Showed positional flexibility during the season, starting 81 games at second base, 19 games at shortstop and making the first 10 starts of his career in left field...Finished the season with a career-best six triples, which ranked tied for fourth in the American League...Earned a spot on the Major League Opening Day roster for the first time in his career...Hit a single with an exit velocity of 115.4 MPH on April 6 vs. Minnesota...marked the hardest-hit ball of his career and the second hardest for any Tigers batted ball in the Statcast Era (2015-present)...Batted in the leadoff spot for the first time in his Major League career April 9 at Cleveland...Homered on his birthday on April 24 vs. Kansas City, becoming the first Tigers player to homer on his birthday since Miguel Cabrera on April 18, 2018, vs. Baltimore...Recorded his first Major League stolen base May 15 vs. Chicago (NL)...Reached base in all four plate appearances June 4 at Chicago (AL), going 3x3 with a double and a walk...was the first time in his career reaching base four-plus times in a game...Had a pair of extra-base hits, including his fifth triple of the season, and tied a career-high with three RBI on Aug. 10 at Baltimore...Started in left field Aug. 14 vs. Cleveland, marking his first start in the outfield at any level of professional baseball...went 1x3 with his first career multi-stolen base game...Homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his career on August 18-19 vs. Los Angeles (AL)...Went 2-for-4 on Aug. 25 at St. Louis and hit .295/.311/.545 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs and six RBI over a 12-game stretch from Aug. 10-25...had a pair of doubles Aug. 22 at Toronto, marking his first career multi-double game.

2020

Posted one of the best seasons for a Tigers rookie in franchise history, and finished as one of the top rookies in the American League during the 2020 campaign... Over 36 games and 129 at-bats he hit .349/.381/.550 with 21 runs scored, four doubles, two triples, six homers and 24 RBI... Led American League rookies with at least 125 at-bats in batting average and slugging percentage, while he ranked second in on-base percentage, tied for fourth in RBI and fifth in home runs...was one of eight AL rookies to have more than 125 at-bats in 2020... His batting average finished as the second highest for a rookie in franchise history (min. 125 at-bats), trailing only Fred Haney’s 1922 campaign, during which he batted .352 (75x213)… Had hits in 21-of-25 games from Aug. 20-Sept. 20, including multiple knocks in nine of those contests, over which he batted a combined .352/.388/.560 with 12 runs scored, three doubles, two triples, four home runs and 16 RBI... Blasted a 445-foot moonshot on Aug. 22 at Cleveland that finished the season ranked as the club’s third-longest home run of the season, behind Miguel Cabrera’s 450-foot shot on Sept. 24 and C.J. Cron’s 447-foot Opening Day missile at Cincinnati…ball was struck at 107.4 MPH, which ranked as his fifth-hardest hit ball of his season... Had a career-long, seven-game hitting streak to begin his season from Aug. 20-Sept. 2, over which he batted .462/.462/.731 with six runs scored, two doubles, one triple, one home run and five RBI…the streak was also tied for the fifth longest by a Tiger this season (long, Cabrera with 13 games)… Ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the Tigers player development system by Baseball America.

2019

Earned Tigers co-Minor League Player of the Year honors in 2019 after hitting .301/.366/.467 with 28 doubles, eight triples, 11 home runs and 62 RBI in 119 games with Triple A Toledo...Atthe time of his promotion to the Major Leagues on August 25, he ranked tied for firstin the International League in triples, second in hits (140) and tied for fifth in runs (75) and total bases (217)...Selected to the International League All-Star Team...Opened the season on a 13-game hitting streak with Triple A Toledo from April 4-19, hitting .327/.414/.388 with one double, one triple and four RBI...Hit over .300 in each of the first two months of the season with Toledo, batting .337/.422/.465 with four doubles, two triples, one home run and nine RBI in April, while he hit .333/.396/.531 with five doubles, four triples, two home runs and 13 RBI in May...Belted a pair of solo home runs on August 21 at Indianapolis.

2018

Began the 2018 season in the Cleveland Indians organization, before being acquired by the Tigers on July 31...Named to the Eastern League Midseason All-Star Team...Led the Eastern League with nine sacrifice hits...Had a four-hit performance, including three doubles, and drove in a season-high five runs on May 25 vs. Richmond...also had a four-hit game on August 8 vs. Portland...Played in 31 games in August/September, hitting .317/.353/.516 with 12 runs scored, nine doubles, two triples, four home runs and 15 RBI...Saw time in 24 games with Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League, batting .237/.265/.402 with 10 runs scored, four doubles, three triples, two home runs and eight RBI. • Ranked as the ninth-best prospect in the Tigers organization by Baseball America following the season.

2017

Spent the season at Single-A Lynchburg, co-champions of the Carolina League...Led team with 136 hits as a 20-year old (began the season at age 19)...Collected professional career-bests with 11 homers, 58 RBIs and 69 runs scored...Ranked 2nd in the league in hits, 4th in batting average and 6th in runs scored... After the season was named an Organizational All-Star (SS) by MiLB.com...Was a Midseason and Postseason Carolina League All-Star... Added to the 40-man roster on Nov. 20. The switch-hitter compiled nearly identical batting averages from both sides of the plate (.289 vs. RHP; .292 vs. LHP) while posting an .820 OPS vs. LHP with 18 extra base hits (.730 OPS vs. RHP) ...Batted .304 (75/247) in 61 second half games with 12 2B, 3 3B, 6 HR & 28 RBI to conclude the season (.797 OPS)...Batted .314 (64/204) with runners on for the year... After the season batted .448 (13/29) for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League (8 games, 5 runs, 1 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI) before knee sprain on Oct. 24 ended his winter.