Pictures of vinny castilla biography examples

The rarefied air in Colorado makes it difficult to gauge power hitters who play there. But after arriving in Denver in 1993, the Mexican-born Castilla made himself into one of the most powerful National League third basemen of the 1990s.

As a skinny shortstop from Oaxaca, Mexico, Castilla had a hard time landing a contract with a major-league team.

“Scouts were always looking for pitchers,” he remembered later. “They wanted the arms.

Vinny castilla

They wanted another [Fernando] Valenzuela. So if you were a position player, you could really get lost.” His contract was eventually purchased from Saltillo of the Mexican League by the Braves in 1990.

In the Atlanta organization, Castilla competed for attention with top prospect Chipper Jones, who had not yet made the move to third base.

And since the Braves already had Rafael Belliard and Jeff Blauser ensconced at the major-league level Castilla was left unprotected in the 1992 expansion draft, over the objections of manager Bobby Co