April 12, 200917 yr Memories conjured for Castillo Former Marlin brought back by watching Bonifacio play 04/11/09 6:42 PM ET MIAMI -- Luis Castillo is not the player he used to be anymore -- he'll admit that much. His 33-year-old body has felt the aches and pains that come with being in the Major Leagues for 14 seasons and, because of that, he can't really get down the line at the blistering rate he used to, or even get to balls in the hole as easily. But every time he watches a Marlins game recently, Castillo is taken back to a time of Gold Gloves, 30-plus stolen bases, 35-game hitting streaks and sheer blazing speed around the basepaths. And the person responsible for those flashbacks is the man who has brought a speed element to the Marlins' lineup that hasn't been there since, well, Castillo -- Emilio Bonifacio. From the jump, it's very easy to see the similarities. Both are from the Dominican Republic, both are switch-hitting slap hitters who use their speed to wreak havoc on the basepaths and, most glaring, Bonifacio -- who still files it under sheer coincidence -- wears the same No. 1 on his Marlins jersey Castillo sported in his 10 seasons in South Florida. "Watching him play reminds me a lot of when I started off here with the Marlins," Castillo said in Spanish. "When I saw him here with the Marlins, I recalled my time here. I remembered when I was down here with the Marlins, when I was young and had the same type of game. That makes me feel good and it fills me with happiness, because he's a young guy with a lot of talent, and it's very special what he's doing." It would be pretty impossible for Bonifacio to keep playing at his current rate throughout the course of an entire season -- if he did, he'd end up with 162 stolen bases, 364 runs scored and 445 hits. The 23-year-old, who came into Spring Training unsure if he'd even make the 25-man roster, has established himself as the starting third baseman and leadoff hitter and entered Saturday's game against the Mets 11-for-19 with nine runs scored and four steals. During a 5-4 walk-off win on Friday, Bonifacio went 3-for-5, caused a balk and motored home on Jorge Cantu's ninth-inning single to score his third run of the game and end it. "Starting the season off like that is a great advantage," said Castillo, now mainly a No. 8 hitter with the Mets. "Hopefully he keeps on like that, playing strong. Hopefully he doesn't stop. This is a great city to play in. The Marlins let you play a calm sort of baseball. Hopefully he takes advantage of his playing time and just keeps working." Bonifacio recalls being a teenager in the late 90s when he would go to Quisqueya Stadium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with his brother to watch a younger version of Castillo play with the Licey Tigers of the Dominican Winter League -- a team the two got to play on together not too long ago. Since then, Castillo has been the player he's looked up to the most. "I like his game," Bonifacio said. "The speed and that type of aggressive game. "I've always admired him, but I never thought I'd be so much like him with the way I play baseball." Bonifacio said the main thing Castillo has urged to him was to use his speed as a means of getting on base. This offseason, the two trained together in the Dominican Republic for the first time, and Castillo was mainly working with him on how to properly execute a bunt single. Bonifacio said that when hitting from the left side, he would come out of the box before the ball would cross the plate and would miss opportunities to lay down good bunts. But Castillo taught him to be patient and trust his speed after getting it down -- something he did effectively to start a critical two-out rally in the seventh inning on Friday. "He was asking me questions, and I was giving him guidance," Castillo said. "I liked it a lot because he wanted to learn, he wanted the help. That's something very important." http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/news/articl...sp&c_id=fla Yes, there's been a lot of press surrounding EB, and I thought about letting this one pass, but in the end I decided there's enough insights to post, especially into the kinds of behind the scenes things that go on in Winter Ball and the generational passing of the torch Castillo speaks to. Every time this season EB gets on base on a bunt we owe a nod to Luis Castillo, but then again Luis showed last night he can still bring it pretty well himself. Castillo's situation with the Mets since the start of spring training has been tenuous at best if you believe the NYC media so last night's performance has to be a good thing for him even if wasn't for us. I admit, it's hard to root against the guy, he's so in grained as part of Marlins history.
April 12, 200917 yr This is a great city to play in. The Marlins let you play a calm sort of baseball. That's classic Luis. Always stays within himself. He never wanted to leave.
April 12, 200917 yr I'd rather Castillo teach him his plate discipline, like Ricky Henderson did for Jose Reyes. Though that's also one of the reasons he's been so good so far: he's only K'd twice (8% of the time)
April 12, 200917 yr This is a very nice read. I love Castillo as a person.. hes so.... genuine. "When I saw him here with the Marlins, I recalled my time here. I remembered when I was down here with the Marlins, when I was young and had the same type of game. That makes me feel good and it fills me with happiness, because he's a young guy with a lot of talent, and it's very special what he's doing." - Castillo
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