Captains' Castro plates career-high six runs

As Willi Castro rounded the bases after his first career grand slam, he didn't exactly contain his excitement.

"He's not a guy who really keeps his emotion inside. You can tell with him and part of that is being 19 years old," Class A Lake County hitting coach Kevin Howard said. "But he hasn't been hitting as well as he knows he's capable of the last month, so you could see a sense of relief and you could definitely see he's really pleased with where he's at right now."

The Indians' No. 20 prospect added a two-run single for a career-high six-RBI game as the Captains topped the Quad Cities River Bandits, 9-4, on Sunday at Classic Park.

"I think he's not swinging as tentative as he was previously. I think he's starting to feel comfortable, comfortable enough to expect the ball where he wants and he's taking really confident swings at it," Howard said. "When I watch him hit right now, he looks loose, he looks like he has a clear mind and just looks really comfortable."

Entering Sunday's contest, Castro was batting .196 with two extra-base hits and two RBIs in 13 July games. Howard noted the switch-hitter has been thrown off by a timing issue during that stretch.

"He's got a tendency to get ready late and that speeds up the game. Any time you're ready late, there's a lot of late head movement and his tempo is faster than he wants it to be. That makes everything more difficult," Howard said. "It makes it more difficult for him to take pitches out of the strike zone and makes it more difficult for him to hit pitches in the strike zone."

Castro grounded out in his first two at-bats, but in the fifth, the Captains and their leadoff hitter broke out. With the bases loaded, the 19-year-old ripped his sixth home run of the season to right field off Chris Murphy (3-6) before his relief-filled trot around the bases.

"It was a really good at-bat," the coach said. "I think he fought off enough pitches to where he put himself back into a fastball count. He got a good fastball to hit and put a great swing on it."

The Puerto Rico native grounded out in the sixth, then came up in the eighth with the bases loaded once again. Castro worked an 11-pitch at-bat against Ralph Garza Jr. before slapping a two-run single to right.

"I saw that he's now seeing offspeed earlier, now that he's ready earlier, and he's taking a lot of pitches down outside the strike zone. I think he's able to look fastball and still fight off good offspeed pitches that he wasn't expecting, but he's not fooled so badly that he's swinging and missing at them," Howard said. "So the pitcher made a lot of good pitchers that at-bat and he kept fouling them off and got himself into a situation where he took enough offspeed pitches where 3-2 with the bases loaded, [Garza] had to throw a fastball. He was on time and he hit it hard."

Despite the slump, Castro has been having his best campaign yet in his first full season. The infielder already has amassed career highs with six homers, 35 RBIs and 14 walks. Although his error total is one away from a personal high with 21, Castro's coach is pleased with the way he's able to mentally separate his offense and defense.

"Even through the last month where he was struggling a little bit, it was probably the best defense I've seen him play all season. When I saw him last year as an 18-year-old, that was difficult for him to separate," Howard said. "Offensively, I've just seen him start to recognize pitches better. I think, as a young kid, getting thrown a lot offspeed pitches, it's difficult.

"And I think the more he's been pitched difficult, the more he's been able to deal with the way guys are pitching him and starting to have different plans at the plate that allow him to take some of those tough offspeed pitches down and out of the strike zone."

Nathan Lukes also went yard for Lake County. The outfielder slugged two homers in Saturday's doubleheader opener, including a walk-off blast in the eighth.

"With him, he's just trying to work on getting into a strong position to hit. He likes to step across his body. He gets his direction a little bit off, which negatively affects his balance," Howard said. "So just getting him into a strong, balanced position where he can take a nice confident swing is really, really key for him. I think the foundation that he's been hitting from has gotten better over the last week."

Starter Matt Esparza (8-6) picked up the win after allowing four hits and striking out seven over six innings. Devon Stewart worked around a walk to secure the final four outs to pick up the save in his Midwest League debut.